Antimony uptake by four crop plant species from nutrient solutions
Human activities release ever-increasing amounts antimony (Sb) into the environment. Antimony is an additive in fire retardants, semiconductors, and an agent for metal hardening. Antimony, a component of bullets, occurs at high concentrations in the soils of shooting ranges. Antimony, a suspected carcinogen, is toxic to humans at chronic uptake rates exceeding 100mg/d. We investigated the extent of Sb uptake by perennial ryegrass (L. perenne), maize (Z. mays), sunflower (H. annuus) and wheat (T. aestivum) from nutrient solutions containing antimonate (Sb<V>), in order to determine the potential entry of this oxyanion into the food chain. For all plant species tested, Sb uptake was proportional to the solution Sb concentration. The maximum concentration in the plants was 71mg/kg at a solution concentration of 30mg/L. The addition of phosphate (PO<,4><,3+>) to the solution did not affect the plants uptake of Sb, despite its known reduction of plant As uptake. Similarly, the addition of citric acid, a common chelator exudated by the roots of many plants, had no effect on foliar Sb concentrations. The results indicate that even on heavily contaminated soils, plant Sb uptake is unlikely to pose a serious health risk to animals and humans.
antimony arsenic crop plants food chain HG-AFS plant uptake
M. Tschan B. Robinson R. Schulin
Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Z rich, 8092 Z rich, Switzerland
国际会议
第九届痕量元素生物地球化学国际会议(9th International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements)
北京
英文
128-129
2007-07-15（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）