Thirty-Year Manuring and Fertilization Effects on Heavy Metals in Black Soil and Soil Aggregates in Northeastern China

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of thirty years of manure and chemical fertilizer applications on metal accumulations in soil and soil aggregates, fresh soils were separated by wet sieving into four aggregate fractions and heavy-metal concentrations in soil and aggregates were determined. The soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration in microaggregates ranged from 20.2 to 39.6 g carbon (C) kg⁻¹, which was significantly greater than those in the other fractions. The proportion of heavy metals in small macroaggregates and the silt + clay fraction accounted for 45.5 ± 10.6% and 35.8 ± 14.1% of the total amount in soil, respectively, which might be due primarily to their greater mass percentages in soil. Both chemical fertilizer and manure significantly stimulated iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) accumulation; horse manure also increased copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr) concentration in bulk soils as compared with the control. The results also indicated that heavy-metal distribution in aggregates was not controlled by SOC but possibly by soil clay.

Keywords:

• Aggregates
• black soil
• chemical fertilizers
• distribution
• heavy metals
• horse manure

Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (40725003, 40921061), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-439), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2008057).