Concentration of heavy metals in the soil during the cultivation of amaranth in the conditions of Zhytomyr Polissya

Abstract

Farming and agriculture on soils contaminated with heavy metals is a major issue for agroecologists. Contaminated soils require special soil detoxification products that could prevent heavy metals from entering crop products. This suggests that research into the negative impact of heavy metals on the soil-plant system and the development of measures for soil detoxification are very important today. The main hazardous heavy metals are zinc, cadmium, copper, mercury, and lead. It has been shown that these heavy metals have the ability to enter the cycle and migrate in living organisms, where they accumulate in high concentrations, which increases the risk of various diseases. In the near future, heavy metals may become more dangerous than waste from nuclear power plants and rank first alongside pesticides. Over the past few years, heavy metal pollution in the environment has increased more than 3-fold, with 2*103 tons of cadmium and 3*103 tons of lead entering the biological cycles of living organisms annually. The results of the 2021–2023 studies show that the concentration of heavy metals, namely mobile compounds Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn, in the soils of the experimental plots where all amaranth varieties were grown was within the MPC and had a low level of contamination with these elements. According to the results of laboratory studies of soil, the content of mobile Pb compounds in the experimental plots varied from 2,35 to 5,55 mg/kg. It was proved that when growing amaranth varieties Creamy early and Sterkh on the control variant (without fertilizers), the lead content was lower than when using fertilizers and ranged from 2,35 to 3,14 mg/kg. The concentration of Cd in the soil samples of the experimental plots during the cultivation of amaranth varied from 0,281 to 0,601 mg/kg. It was found that the highest concentration of Cd was observed in the soil when applying mineral fertilizers (N60P60K60), where the metal content was at the level of 0,314-0,601 mg/kg, while in the variants of research without fertilizers this indicator was at the level of 0,281-0,451 mg/kg. Heavy metals such as Cu and Zn are present in minimal amounts and play the role of trace elements that are essential for the physiological processes of development and growth of plants, animals, and humans.