Reduced plant uptake of PAHs from soil amended with sunflower husk biochar

AbstractA 15N tracing pot experiment was conducted using two types of wood-based biochars: a regular biochar and a Kon-Tiki-produced nutrient-enriched biochar, at two application rates (1% and 5% (w/w)), in addition to a fertilizer only and a control treatment. Ryegrass was sown in pots, all of which except controls received 15N-labelled fertilizer as either 15NH4NO3 or NH415NO3. We quantified the effect of biochar application on soil N2O emissions, as well as the fate of fertilizer-derived ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3−) in terms of their leaching from the soil, uptake into plant biomass, and recovery in the soil. We found that application of biochars reduced soil mineral N leaching and N2O emissions. Similarly, the higher biochar application rate of 5% significantly increased aboveground ryegrass biomass yield. However, no differences in N2O emissions and ryegrass biomass yields were observed between regular and nutrient-enriched biochar treatments, although mineral N leaching tended to be lower in the nutrient-enriched biochar treatment than in the regular biochar treatment. The 15N analysis revealed that biochar application increased the plant uptake of added nitrate, but reduced the plant uptake of added ammonium compared to the fertilizer only treatment. Thus, the uptake of total N derived from added NH4NO3 fertilizer was not affected by the biochar addition, and cannot explain the increase in plant biomass in biochar treatments. Instead, the increased plant biomass at the higher biochar application rate was attributed to the enhanced uptake of N derived from soil. This suggests that the interactions between biochar and native soil organic N may be important determinants of the availability of soil N to plant growth.

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Prediction of Plant Uptake and Translocation of Engineered Metallic Nanoparticles by Machine Learning

Environmental Science & Technology ◽

10.1021/acs.est.1c01603 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoxuan Wang ◽

Liwei Liu ◽

Weilan Zhang ◽

Xingmao Ma

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Plant Uptake ◽

Metallic Nanoparticles

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Uptake of perfluorinated alkyl acids by crops: results from a field study

Environmental Science Processes & Impacts ◽

10.1039/d1em00166c ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sebastian Felizeter ◽

Heinrich Jürling ◽

Matthias Kotthoff ◽

Pim De Voogt ◽

Michael S. McLachlan

Keyword(s):

Field Study ◽

Plant Uptake ◽

Perfluorinated Alkyl Acids

Variability of plant uptake of PFAAs from soil is explored with measured uptake factors for 13 PFAAs in 4 crops.

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Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture: A Review of Nature-Based Solutions for Nitrogen Removal and Recovery

Water ◽

10.3390/w13141893 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 1893

Author(s):

Giuseppe Mancuso ◽

Grazia Federica Bencresciuto ◽

Stevo Lavrnić ◽

Attilio Toscano

Keyword(s):

Water Pollution ◽

Nitrogen Removal ◽

Plant Uptake ◽

Environmental Issues ◽

Polluted Water ◽

Health Issues ◽

Agricultural Wastewater ◽

Research Activities ◽

Wide Range ◽

Different Types

The implementation of nature-based solutions (NBSs) can be a suitable and sustainable approach to coping with environmental issues related to diffuse water pollution from agriculture. NBSs exploit natural mitigation processes that can promote the removal of different contaminants from agricultural wastewater, and they can also enable the recovery of otherwise lost resources (i.e., nutrients). Among these, nitrogen impacts different ecosystems, resulting in serious environmental and human health issues. Recent research activities have investigated the capability of NBS to remove nitrogen from polluted water. However, the regulating mechanisms for nitrogen removal can be complex, since a wide range of decontamination pathways, such as plant uptake, microbial degradation, substrate adsorption and filtration, precipitation, sedimentation, and volatilization, can be involved. Investigating these processes is beneficial for the enhancement of the performance of NBSs. The present study provides a comprehensive review of factors that can influence nitrogen removal in different types of NBSs, and the possible strategies for nitrogen recovery that have been reported in the literature.

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Identifying Controlling Factors of Bioaccumulation of Selected Metal(loid)s in Various Soil–Cereal Crop Systems within Cultivated Fluvisols

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy11061180 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1180

Author(s):

Jan Skála ◽

Radim Vácha ◽

Jarmila Čechmánková

Keyword(s):

Plant Uptake ◽

Ph Value ◽

Soil Parameters ◽

Significant Variable ◽

Cd Uptake ◽

Crop Models ◽

Successful Model ◽

Model Reliability ◽

Contamination Levels ◽

Single Extractions

The paired Fluvisol and cereal samples in both the field screening and controlled experiments are reported to elucidate the soil–crop relationship for As, Cd, and Pb in relation to changing contamination levels. Significant varietal differences in plant uptake were observed for crop type (barley, triticale) and the harvested part of the crop (oat shoots and grain). When parametrizing the stepwise regression models, the inclusion of soil properties often improved the performance of soil–crop models but diverse critical soil parameters were retained in the model for individual metal(loid)s. The pH value was often a statistically significant variable for Cd uptake. For As and Pb, the more successful model fit was achieved using the indicators of quantity or quality of soil organic matter, but always with lower inherent model reliability compared to Cd. Further, a single correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between extractable metal concentrations in soil solution and their crop accumulation. For Cd, there were strong intercorrelations among single extractions, the NH4NO3 extraction stood out with perfect correlation with plant uptake in both experiments. For As and Pb, the CaCl2 and Na2EDTA solutions outperformed other single extractions and were the better choice for the assessment of depositional fluvial substrates.

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