Heavy metals in the soil-crop system

Data on the bulk contents of heavy metals in polluted soils are not quite suitable to judge the ecological situation in an agrocenosis. According to the results of model experiments with artificial contamination of soil, the flux of zinc and lead from the starting point (from a medium loamy leached chernozem) to the final point (wheat grains) sharply decreases. It is possible to obtain an ecologically pure (uncontaminated) grain yield even on a strongly contaminated soil due to the buffering capacity of the latter and due to the self-protective capacity of agricultural crops. The ecological potential of the soil-crop system is formed mostly at the expense of the buffering capacity of soil to heavy metals; the barrier function of plants is less significant. It is argued that the existing ecological standards based on the total contents of heavy metals in soil are of little use for predicting the quality of crops.