Extraction of Heavy Metals from Manure and their Bioavailability to Spinach (Spinacia Oleracea L.) after Composting

Abstract

An investigation was carried out on the extractability of heavy metals (HM) from livestock manure during composting and their uptake by spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) from compost-amended soil. Significant temporal changes were recorded for elements during composting of manure. Higher concentrations of metals were observed during the early stages of composting. Conversely, later stages of composting produced higher amounts of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sodium (Na) in the water extract. Total carbon (C) in the samples was inversely related to the length of composting. The application of composted manure increased spinach growth as compared to the fresh manure. Concentrations of HM in spinach varied in the order iron (Fe) > zinc (Zn) > manganese (Mn) > cadmium (Cd) > lead (Pb) > copper (Cu) and their release from post-harvest soil was identical to that in manure samples. The low extractability of HM may suggest that the use of composted manures would lessen environmental pollution problem in the fields.

Keywords:

• composting process
• animal manure
• spinach
• heavy metals
• extractability
• bioavailability