Effect of soil properties and sample preparation on extractable and soluble Pb and Cd fractions in soils

The effect of soil extraction procedures and/or sample pretreatment (drying, freezing of the soil sample) on the extractability of cadmium and lead was tested in a model experiment, with an employment of optical emission and atomic ab- sorption spectrometry methods. In the first part, 6 extraction procedures were compared: 2 mol l-1 HNO3, 0.43 mol l-1 CH3COOH, 0.05 mol l-1 EDTA, Mehlich III extraction procedure (0.2 mol l-1 CH3COOH + 0.25 mol l-1 NH4NO3 + 0.013 mol.l-1 HNO3 + 0.015 mol.l-1 NH4F + 0.001 mol.l-1 EDTA), 0.01 mol.l-1 CaCl2, and deionised water. Addi-tionally, two methods of soil solution sampling were compared, and the centrifugation of satu-rated soil and the use of suction cups and dif-ferential pulse anodic stripping voltametry was applied to assess free and complexed metals portions. The results showed that different soil sample extraction methods and/or sample pre-treatments including soil solution sampling can lead to different absolute values of mobile cadmium and lead content in soils. However, the interpretation of the data can lead to similar conclusions as are apparent from the compari- son of the soil solution sampling methods where fairly good correlation was observed (for Cd r = 0.76, and for Pb r = 0.74). The ambiguous results were reported for voltammetric determinations of free and complex portions of Cd and Pb where a different behavior was observed for water extracts of soil and soil solution obtained using suction cups. Moreover, a changing extent of lead complexation was determined with prolonged storage of the samples. The results confirmed that soil and/or soil solution sampling under immediate soil conditions and limitations of pre-extraction operations are necessary.

Effects of Organic Matter-Rich Amendments on Selenium Mobility in Soils

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays an important role in the Se dynamics in soil. The potential effects of vermicompost and digestate as important sources of SOM on selenium (Se) mobility were assessed in this study. Three soils differing in their physicochemical parameters, fluvisol, chernozem, and luvisol, were chosen, and three types of vermicomposts based on various bio-waste materials as digestate (vermicompost 1), kitchen waste with woodchips (vermicompost 2), and garden bio-waste (vermicompost 3) were used due to their high organic matter content. Additionally, digestate samples alone were applied. To evaluate the potential effect of vermicompost application on sorption characteristics of soils, batch sorption experiments were performed. The results showed a predominant effect on Se species in the soils, where selenite sorbed more intensively compared to selenate, regardless of the soil and ameliorative material applied. In the control, the soil sorption ability of selenite tended to decrease in the order: fluvisol > luvisol > chernozem. However, these differences were not significant. Moreover, the effects of the ameliorative materials depended on both soil and amendment used. In fluvisol, all the amendment applications resulted in a decrease in distribution coefficient ( K d values) of Se, whereas in chernozem, this effect was observed only for the digestate-based vermicompost 1. Increasing K d levels were reported in luvisol treated with digestate;the application of garden bio-waste-based vermicompost 3 tended to decrease the K d values. Further studies are required on long-term effects of these amendments on Se mobility in soils and the role of individual organic matter fractions in this context.