Journal Article

New isotopic evidence of lead contamination in wheat grain from atmospheric fallout

Huang, Qifei, Yang, Jun, Ma, Chuang, Chen, Tongbin, Lei, Mei, Guo, Guanghui, Zhou, Xiaoyong, Gu, Runyao

2015

Overview

Crops could accumulate trace metals by soil-root transfer and foliar uptake from atmospheric fallout, and an accurate assessment of pollution sources is a prerequisite for preventing heavy metal pollution in agricultural products. In this study, we examined Pb isotope rates to trace the sources of Pb in wheat grain grown in suburbs. Results showed that, even in zones with scarcely any air pollution spots, atmospheric fallout was still a considerable source of Pb accumulation in wheat. The concentration of Pb in wheat grain has poor correlation with that in farm soil. The Pb concentration in wheat grains with dust in bran coat was significantly higher than that in wheat grains, which indicates that Pb may accumulate by foliar uptake. The Pb isotope rate has obvious differences between the soil and atmospheric fallout, and scatter ratio is significantly closer between the wheat grain and atmospheric fallout. Atmospheric fallout is a more significant source of Pb concentration in wheat grains than in soil. As far as we know, this is the first study on the main sources of lead in grain crop (wheat) samples with isotope. This study aims to improve our understanding of the translocation of foliar-absorbed metals to nonexposed parts of plants.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Agricultural pollution / Agricultural products / Air Pollutants - analysis / Air Pollutants - chemistry / Air Pollution / Aquatic Pollution / bran / Cereal crops / China / Crops / Dust / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / Edible Grain - chemistry / Environment / Environmental assessment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Fallout / farms / Flowers & plants / foliar uptake / Food Contamination / Food contamination & poisoning / Grain / Grain crops / Heavy metals / Humans / Isotopes / Isotopes - analysis / Isotopes - chemistry / Lead / Lead - analysis / Lead - chemistry / Lead content / Leaves / Metals / Plant Roots - chemistry / Pollution sources / Research Article / Scientific imaging / soil / Soil - chemistry / Soil Pollutants - analysis / Soil Pollutants - chemistry / Soil pollution / Suburban areas / Suburban Population / Suburbs / trace elements / Trace metals / Translocation / Triticum - chemistry / Triticum aestivum / Waste Water Technology / Water Management / Water Pollution Control / Wheat