| Abstract: | Examination of the risk of contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the harvested crops of carrots and fungi after the application of composted municipal waste Investigations were conducted to determine if the often high, naturally-occuring concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) present in municipal waste composts could cause hazardous contamination of plants when the composts are used as soil conditioners in agriculture and gardening. Carrots (Daucus carota) and mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), used as representatives of higher and lower plants, respectively, were cultivated on compost-free or compost-amended substrates. To determine concentrations of PAHs in soils and plants a gas-chromatographic method was employed which allowed benzo(a)pyrene and 12 other PAHs to be determined singly or as isomeric mixtures. In the experiments with Agaricus it was found that fruiting bodies, even though grown in a substrate with very high concentrations of PAHs (i- e., 1000 ppb benzo(a)pyrene), contained no detectible quantities of these compounds. In contrast to this, experiments with carrots showed that there was a direct correlation between PAH concentrations in the substrate and PAH concentrations in both below- and above-ground portions of the plants. The 25 to 40 fold increase of the PAH concentration in the substrate containing waste compost caused an increase of these compounds in the carrot roots by the same factor. The only 2 to 4 fold increment of the PAHs in the corresponding foliage was thought to be mainly due to a relatively great portion of air contamination by which the increase of the PAH quantities entering from below ground to the foliage was not so evident. The concentrations of benzo(a)pyrene used in the present series of experiments with composted waste are 7 to 10 times higher than those found in soil to which compost has been added as in practical agricultural application. Relating the result of the described experiments to actual practice, it could be suggested that the normally very low concentrations of PAHs in below ground plant parts would increase with the use of composted municipal waste, but they would not become greater than the concentrations in above ground plant as caused by contamination from naturally occuring PAHs in the air. |
