Overview
This greenhouse study examined copper and lead accumulation in three plant species (amaranth, Indian mustard, sunflower) grown in contaminated industrial soil from Malaysia, with varying nitrogen fertilizer doses. Initial soil Cu was 56.2 ± 0.09 mg/kg and lead (Pb) 40.2 ± 0.07 mg/kg. The study assessed whether nitrogen fertilization enhanced phytoremediation efficiency.
Key numbers
Initial soil concentrations: Cu 56.2 ± 0.09 mg/kg, Pb 40.2 ± 0.07 mg/kg (Table 1).
Brassica juncea shoot concentrations (Table 2 / Table 3, varies with N treatment):
- Pb in shoots: 5.5 to 11.6 mg/kg (across N fertilizer doses)
- Cu in shoots: 6.3 to 14.3 mg/kg (across N fertilizer doses)
- Transfer factor (TF = shoot/soil) < 1 for both metals in B. juncea
- Nitrogen fertilizer boosted accumulation; B. juncea removed 31.6-35.6% of Pb and 27.9-32.2% of Cu from soil
Amaranth had the highest Cu and Pb accumulation among the three species.
Methods
Greenhouse pot experiment; contaminated soil; three plant species; five nitrogen fertilizer treatments; harvest of shoots and roots; metals by digestion and ICP or AAS.
Implications
This is a greenhouse phytoremediation study using heavily contaminated industrial soil (Pb 40 mg/kg, Cu 56 mg/kg). It does not represent food safety occurrence in commercial mustard. TF < 1 for B. juncea under these extreme conditions is consistent with observations that lead accumulation is root-biased. The nitrogen fertilizer enhancement is a phytoremediation tool, not a food production context. Routes as mechanism context for Pb and Cu soil-to-plant transfer.
Certification: not in HMT&C threshold pools. Routes to Lead, Copper, mitigation/phytoremediation.
App: No contamination_profile blocks are touched.
Microbiome: Not a focus of this source.
Update history
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