Document Type : Research Article
Authors
Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan
Abstract
Introduction: Soil contamination by heavy metals is a major concern throughout the world, due to persistence of metals in the environment and their toxicity and threat to all living organisms. Several strategies have been used to immobilize heavy metal ions in soils. Immobilization can be achieved by adding natural and synthetic amendments such as zeolites and organic materials. Because of large specific surface area, high cation exchange capacity (CEC), low cost and wide spread availability, zeolites are probably the most promising materials interacting with many heavy metal ions in contaminated soils and water. Organic amendments such as vermicompost contains a high proportion of humified organic matter (OM), may decrease the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil by adsorption and by forming stable complexes with surface functional groups, thus permitting the re-establishment of vegetation on contaminated sites. Recent studies showed that the co-application of zeolite and humic acids could be effective in reducing the available fraction of Pb in a garden polluted soil. Fractionation of heavy metals cations in amended polluted-soils is needed to predict elemental mobility in soil and phyto-availability to plants. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of co-application of zeolite and vermicompost on Zn redistribution in a contaminated soil.
Material and Methods: A contaminated soil was collected from the top 20 cm in the vicinity of zinc mine in Zanjan province, western north of Iran. The soil sample was air-dried, passed through 2-mm sieve and stored at room temperature. The soil sample was thoroughly mixed to ensure uniformity. Sub-samples were then digested using the hot-block digestion procedure for total Zn concentration. The experiment was conducted under greenhouse condition. The polluted soil was put in polyethylene pots and mixed well vermicompost and zeolite at the rate of 0, 50 and 100 g kg-1 soil. The treatments were evaluated in a 3 × 3 factorial design and were arranged in a randomized block design with three replications. After incubation for 45 days, five seeds of corn were sown in each pot. After germination the seedlings were thinned to 3 per pot. Plants were grown for 2 months under control conditions. After the corn had been harvested, soil samples were air-dried, and analyzed for pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and electrical conductivity (EC). Chemical fractionations of Zn in soils collected after the pot trial were investigated using the procedure of Salbu et al. (1998). This procedure subdivides the heavy-metal distribution into an water-extractable+exchangeable fraction, a form bound to carbonates, a form bound to Fe and Mn oxides, a form bound to organics, and a residual form. An analysis of variance was used to test significance (P≤0.05) of treatment effects and Duncan multiple range test (P≤0.05) was used to compare the means (SAS, 2002).
Results and Discussion: Soil pH gradually decreased with application of both vermicompost and zeolite amendments. This may be due to degradation of organic matter and releasing of organic and inorganic acids such as carbonic, citric and malic acids as well as H+ produced from mineralization of nitrogen in the organic matter. Electrical conductivity (EC) of soils increased with increasing amounts of vermicompost and zeolite applications. The highest EC was observed in pots containing 10% w/w zeolite and 10% w/w vermicompost. Addition of zeolite significantly increased soil CEC. The overall distribution of Zn in different fractions was in the sequence residual (38.6%)> Fe and Mn oxides bound (31.0 %) > carbonated (21.6%)> organic (4.3%)≈exchangeable +water soluble (4.4 %). The application of vermicompost significantly decreased concentration of Zn in water+exchangeable fraction as compared to the control soil. Although singly zeolite amendment had not significant effect on water+exchangeable Zn concentration, this form decreased significantly with co-application of vermicompost and zeolite. This may be due to redistribution of Zn from this form to less available forms (e.g. organic and residual fractions). The addition of vermicompost had not significant effect on the carbonated fraction of Zn, whereas co-application of zeolite and vermicompost significantly decreased concentration of Zn bound in carbonates. Singly zeolite and co-application of amendments decreased the concentration of Zn in Fe and Mn oxides bound. Although singly compost and zeolite amendments increased concentration of Zn bound to organics, this form decreased furthest with co-application of them. Zeolite and vermicompost alone had not significant effect on mobility factor (MF) of Zn over the un-amended soil. Co-application of vermicompost and zeolite to polluted soil resulted in a significant decrease in MF values of Zn compared to control.
Conclusion: Co-application of vermicompost and zeolite to polluted soil resulted in redistribution of Zn from available forms (exchangeable +water soluble) to less available form (e.g. organic), thus may be useful for the immobilization of Zn from polluted sites.
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