Investigating the uptake and acquisition of potentially toxic elements in plants and health risks associated with the addition of fresh biowaste amendments to industrially contaminated soil

Soil contamination by potentially toxic elements (PTEs), due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, is a serious environmental concern that has been threatening both the sustainability of various agroecosystems and human health. Efforts to investigate the bioavailability, transfer, and accumulation of PTEs in the soil–plant system and their possible health consequences have almost exclusively focused in the past studies. However, there is limited evidence for increased human exposure to PTEs through dietary intake of food crop grown on contaminated soil influenced by fresh biowaste amendments (FBAs). Here, we show that FBAs addition to soil markedly (p  ≤ .01) intensified human exposure to PTEs through impacts on solubility, uptake, and bioaccumulation compared with the control. In general, the risk assessment performed indicated that the hazard index values for FBAs treatments were notably higher than that of control; however, these were shown to be less than the legal limit (<1). In addition, the lifetime risks of developing carcinogenicity from exposure to PTEs were far above the maximum regulatory limits (1.00E‐06), indicating that remarkable (p  ≤ .01) amount of PTEs was transferred to food with the addition of FBAs. Conclusively, these results suggest that the use of FBAs to contaminated soil aggravates health risks of PTEs through wheat consumption. Further studies, which incorporate the in vitro gastrointestinal bioaccessibility, should be conducted to heighten our understanding about PTEs exposure and the risks associated with FBAs addition to contaminated soil.     

云南省某锡矿废水污灌区土壤重金属污染评价分析

为揭示工矿企业污水灌溉对土壤环境质量的影响,以锡矿企业废水污灌区为例,对其表层土壤重金属Hg、As、Cd、Pb、Cr含量及pH值进行测定分析。对照国家《土壤环境质量标准》二级标准,采用标准对比法、单因子污染指数法和综合污染指数法,对污灌区土壤环境质量进行了评价。结果表明,研究区土壤pH值介于3.83～6.45之间,均值为5.14,土壤偏酸;Hg和Pb单因子污染指数全部样本为一级,土壤清洁且安全;Cr和Cd单因子污染指数分别有2.22%和4.44%的样本为二级,达到警戒级,说明土壤尚清洁,未受到污染;As单因子污染指数2.22%的样本为三级,Pi跃1,达轻污染级,为主要污染因子,表明土壤已受到As轻度污染;研究区综合污染指数值为1.16,达到轻度污染级。     

Heavy metals potentially drive co-selection of antibiotic resistance genes by shifting soil bacterial communities in paddy soils along the middle and lower Yangtze River

Heavy metals (HMs) and antibiotic resistance have become serious environmental problems affecting soil and human health. Soil microorganisms play key roles in pollutant degradation and biogeochemical cycling processes; however, the interactions among HMs, soil microbial communities, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in agricultural soils remain unclear. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and NovaSeq sequencing, we evaluated heavy metal contents, abundances of ARGs, soil bacterial community structure and functions, and their correlations in paddy soils at 43 sampling sites along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, central and eastern China. Our results showed the co-occurrence of HMs, ARGs, and HM resistance genes across all paddy soils. Additionally, significant positive associations were detected between HMs and resistance genes. Cadmium, czcA, and int1 were positively correlated with bacterial community diversity. The Mantel test showed that bacterial community composition and functions were significantly associated with HMs and resistance genes, such as Cd, Cr, Zn, copA, czcA, int1, and sul1. Moreover, HMs and ARGs were the major factors shaping soil bacterial communities; thus, HMs triggered proliferation of HM and antibiotic resistances by influencing the mobile genetic element (int1) and soil microbial communities. Our study revealed that HMs potentially drive the co-selection of ARGs by shifting soil bacterial community structure and functions, thereby increasing the potential risks to human health as well as ecological environment in the paddy soils along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.