Cadmium (Cd) is ubiquitous in the human environment and has toxic effect on soil microbial biomass or its activity, including microbial biomass carbon (C(mic)), dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and basal respiration (BR), etc., C(mic), DHA, BR were used as bioindicators of the toxic effect of Cd in soil. This study was conducted to determine the effects of Cd on soil microbial biomass and its activ...

Substantial tracts of land in the southwestern and western U.S. are undergoing or will require ERA. Toxicity bioassays employed in baseline ERAs are, for the most part. representative of mesic systems, and highly standardized test species (e.g., lettuce, earthworm) are generally not relevant to arid system toxicity testing. Conversely, relevant test species are often poorly characterized with r...

Copper pollution in soils is widespread, and its accumulation in crop products could pose a risk on human health. In this paper, bioavailability of added copper (Cu) and critical Cu concentrations in a vegetable garden soil was evaluated for Chinese cabbage (Brassica chinensis L.), pakchoi (Brassica chinensis L.), and celery (Apiumg graveolens L. var. dulce DC) based on human dietary toxicity. ...

Six soil amendments including municipal solid waste compost (MSWC), coal fly ash (CFA), rice husk biochar prepared at 300°C (B300) and 600°C (B600), zerovalent iron (Fe0), and zerovalent manganese (Mn0) were evaluated to determine their ability to reduce mobility of chromium (Cr) in a Cr-spiked soil. The Cr-spiked soil samples were separately incubated with selected amendments at 2 and 5% [weig...

A potential nitrification rate test (PNR) was used to identify metal toxicity in field-contaminated soils. The test was applied to metal salt-spiked soils, to 27 uncontaminated soils, and to 15 soils that are contaminated by former metal smelting activities. Four agricultural soils (pH 4.5-6.6) were spiked with various rates of CdCl2 (0-200 mg Cd/kg dry wt) or ZnCl2 (0-3,000 mg Cd/kg dry wt) an...

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a dominant phthalic acid ester (PAE) that has aroused public concern due to its resistance to degradation and its toxicity as an endocrine-disrupting compound. Effects of different concentrations of DEHP on Eisenia fetida in spiked natural soil have been studied in the body of the earthworm by means of soil cultivation tests 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after expo...

The development of a unified Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSARs) describing the toxicity of polar and non-polar organic compounds in multiple soils was always hampered by two main factors. First, existing QSARs distinguish between narcosis I and II compounds, which exhibit different toxicities when compared with their logKow suggesting that polar compounds are more toxic. Secon...

Annually, a large amount of effluents is discharged from an industrial zone dedicated to leather industries into a dried seasonal waterway bed in Mashhad plain, Northeast of Iran. These soils are high in pH, CaCO contents and have no naturally occurring chromium detectable in mg/kg range. Considering high 3 concentration of chromium in the discharged leather industries effluents and their direc...

Rice grown on a flooded Sumatra Oxisol soils frequently exhibits poor growth and low yield. A study has been made of the effects of pH and redox conditions on growth and nutrient uptake by rice, and the relationship between nutrient release in the flooded soil and nutrient uptake by the rice plant. At pH 4.5 rice plants produced low plant height, low root dry weight, low shoot dry weight, slow ...