Chemical and mechanical coating of sulfur on baby corn biochar and their role in soil Pb availability, uptake, and growth of tomato under Pb contamination

Jing Ma; Ziyi Hua; Sana Noreen; Zaffar Malik; Muhammad Riaz; Muhamamd Kamran; Shafaqat Ali; Mohamed S Elshikh; Fu Chen

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122654

Chemical and mechanical coating of sulfur on baby corn biochar and their role in soil Pb availability, uptake, and growth of tomato under Pb contamination

Environ Pollut. 2023 Dec 1:338:122654. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122654. Epub 2023 Sep 29.

Authors

Jing Ma¹, Ziyi Hua¹, Sana Noreen², Zaffar Malik², Muhammad Riaz³, Muhamamd Kamran⁴, Shafaqat Ali⁵, Mohamed S Elshikh⁶, Fu Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China.
² Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan.
³ College of Resources and Environment, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
⁴ Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan; CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.
⁵ Department of Environmental Science, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan; Department of Biological Sciences and Technology, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan. Electronic address: shafaqataligill@yahoo.com.
⁶ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 37778489
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122654

Abstract

In recent ages, industrial revolution and natural weathering processes have been increasing lead (Pb) contamination in agricultural soils, therefore, green remediation technologies are becoming attractive and cost-effective. In the current pot study, 1% and 2% (w/w) application rates of sulfur (S) alone and novel chemo-mechanically S-modified baby corn biochars (CSB and MSB) were applied in a Pb-contaminated (500 mg/kg) soil to evaluate tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) growth, Pb uptake and its soil availability. The results from SEM-EDS and XRD patterns confirmed the S enrichment on the surface of baby-corn biochar. Further, Pb treatment alone imposed a significant reduction in biomass accumulation, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidative mechanism, root traits, and Pb-tolerance index because of increased soil Pb availability and its uptake, translocation and biological accumulation in various tissues of tomato. However, incorporation of lower rate of elemental S (1%) and higher rates of biochars, especially chemically S-modified biochar, CSB (2%) significantly improved dry biomass production, Pb-tolerance index, physiological attributes and antioxidative defense system of tomato plants. These results might be due to a prominent decrease in soil Pb availability by 37.5%, Pb concentration in shoot by 66.7% and root by 58.3%, soil to root transfer by 33.8%, and root to shoot transfer by 20.2% in tomato plants under 2% application rate of CSB, as compared with the Pb treatment without any amendment. Moreover, sulfur treatment induced a significant impact in reduction of soil pH (from 8.97-7.47) as compared to the biochar treatments under Pb-toxicity. The current findings provided an insight that 2% chemically S-modified biochar (CSB) has significant potential to improve the tomato growth by reducing Pb bioavailability in the Pb-contaminated soil, compared to the S alone and MSB amendments.

Keywords: Biochar; Heavy metals; Immobilization; Lead; Tomato; Translocation.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants
Cadmium / analysis
Charcoal
Lead
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Soil
Soil Pollutants* / analysis
Solanum lycopersicum*
Sulfur
Zea mays / metabolism

Substances

biochar
Lead
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Charcoal
Antioxidants
Sulfur
Cadmium
Metals, Heavy