Bean Plant Production of Dry Matter and Grain Related to Soil Citric Acid–Extractable Copper, Zinc, Cadmium, and Lead

Abstract

Some knowledge concerning soil heavy‐metal content and its availability to plants is essential to evaluate the risk of potentially toxic elements in the alimentary chain. Assessment of heavy‐metal availability to plants was achieved by a simple extraction method. The goal of this work was to determine the contents of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb), soluble in 2% citric acid solution (chelating agent), in dystrophic red latosol soil (RL_d) and humic red‐yellow latosol soil (RYL_h). We focused on relating the contents of Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb to the production of dry matter and grains by bean plants cultivated in a glasshouse. Heavy‐metal contents extracted by citric acid increased with increasing dosage increments, mainly in RL_d; production of dry matter by bean plant was negatively affected by the studied metals. However, in some cases, grain production was increased.

Keywords:

• Bean plant
• citric acid extractor
• dry matter
• heavy metals
• soil

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Capes is gratefully acknowledged for the scholarship (A. V. S. C.), as is CNPq for fellowships (C. M. P. A., A. E. F. N., and M. P. F.).