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Heavy Metal Index

Yield Assessment of Beetroot and Potato, Cultivated on Ordinary Chernozem Contaminated with Heavy Metals

A 2015 Rostov-region field experiment measured copper, zinc and lead in beetroot and potato grown on artificially metal-amended chernozem.

A 2015 Rostov-region field experiment measured copper, zinc and lead in beetroot and potato grown on artificially metal-amended chernozem. Adding mineral fertilizer reduced several crop concentrations relative to the metal-only treatment, while yield responses differed between crops.

Key numbers

TreatmentCu beetCu potatoZn beetZn potatoPb beetPb potato
control2.54.72.73.60.40.3
100 mg/kg each metal5.4511.29.60.70.6
metals + NPK4.54.77.28.40.40.5

Crop concentrations are mg/kg, with weight basis unspecified. Beet yields control/metals/metals+NPK: 25.4/21.5/22.3 t/ha; potato: 30.0/34.1/38.5 t/ha. Soil total/mobile concentrations and LSD values are preserved separately (Tables 1–3).

Methods (brief)

Three replicated plots per treatment at Donskoye experimental farm, Rostov region, Russia, 2015; Cu, Zn and Pb acetates added to 30 cm depth at nominal 100 mg/kg each. Total soil metals by XRF; mobile fractions by 1 N ammonium acetate buffer pH 4.8. Plant dry ashing at 450°C, nitric/hydrochloric acid dissolution and AAS; preparation does not establish the reporting moisture basis.

Implications

Supports crop-specific agronomic mitigation and soil-to-crop transfer evidence. Artificially amended experimental crops are not a market-occurrence distribution. Paper limit comparisons remain secondary context.

Evidence Fitness: EF-2 for experimental concentration/yield comparisons, with fertilizer-dose and weight-basis qualifications. No direct finished-food threshold inference.

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Verification notes

The Methods and Table 2 label the fertilizer N 60 P 60 K 60; Tables 1 and 3 instead print N 60 P 90 K 60. Preserve treatment as metals+NPK without inventing the phosphorus dose. Novel experimental-crop matrix keeps crop experiments separate from market surveys. Potato Pb 0.5 mg/kg equals the paper’s displayed comparator; blanket “below” wording is not adopted. No regulatory ceiling is created from this paper.

The preserved Library PDF is identified by RPHMI_8; SHA-256 ac951fc331229b8abd9ec0c37be241020d8de0f5f63ddc89ca1573ba4f9533dc. The byline, year and publication were verified in the PDF. DOI provenance and any publication-date differences are described above. Original access location: http://www.vegetables.su/jour/article/viewFile/454/402. Source-specific numeric observations, context dispositions, row-fit decisions and remaining gaps are preserved in the structured evidence record. No source value was converted across product, soil, water or experimental matrices during ingest.

Update history

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