Factors driving antimony accumulation in soil-pakchoi and wheat agroecosystems: Insights and predictive models

Tongliang Wu; Naichi Zhang; Cun Liu; Changfeng Ding; Peng Zhang; Sainan Hu; Yihang Huang; Zixuan Ge; Peixin Cui; Yujun Wang

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124016

Factors driving antimony accumulation in soil-pakchoi and wheat agroecosystems: Insights and predictive models

Environ Pollut. 2024 Apr 20:351:124016. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124016. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tongliang Wu¹, Naichi Zhang², Cun Liu¹, Changfeng Ding¹, Peng Zhang³, Sainan Hu¹, Yihang Huang⁴, Zixuan Ge⁵, Peixin Cui¹, Yujun Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China.
² Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; Department of Agronomy, Hetao University, Bayannur, 015000, China.
⁴ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China.
⁵ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. Electronic address: yjwang@issas.ac.cn.

PMID: 38648966
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124016

Abstract

The accumulation of antimony (Sb) in plants and its potential effects on human health are of increasing concern. Nevertheless, only a few countries or regions have established soil Sb thresholds for agricultural purposes, and soil properties have not been taken into account. This study investigated the accumulation of Sb in the edible parts of pakchoi and wheat grain by adding exogenous Sb to 21 soils with varying properties. The results revealed a positive correlation between bioavailable Sb (Sb_ava, extracted by 0.1 M K₂HPO₄) in soil and Sb in the edible parts of pakchoi (R² = 0.77, p < 0.05) and wheat grain (R² = 0.54, p < 0.05). Both machine learning and traditional multiple regression analysis indicated Sb_ava was the most critical feature and the main soil properties that contributed to Sb uptake by pakchoi and wheat were CaCO₃ and clay, respectively. The advisory food limits for Sb in pakchoi and wheat were estimated based on health risk assessment, and used to derive soil thresholds for safe pakchoi and wheat production based on Sb_tot and Sb_ava, respectively. These findings hold potential for predicting Sb uptake by crops with different soil properties and informing safe production management strategies.

Keywords: Antimony bioavailability; Plant uptake; Soil properties; Soil threshold.