Heavy Metals in Several Soybean Varieties Cultivated in the Transylvanian Plain, Romania

Abstract

Soybeans are species of legume that has become one of the most widely consumed food in the world, because they are easy to cultivate and very beneficial for human health. The quality of the cultivated plants, including the content of toxic heavy metals depends to a large extent on the contaminants present in the soils in which they are grown and the method of fertilization. Through this research we aim to highlight the degree of accumulation of cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc in relation with the cultivated soybean genotype and fertilization. Three soy varieties (Cristina, Felix and Onix) were cultivated in an experimental field located at Cojocna Experimental Didactic Center of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca. The above-mentioned heavy metals were determined from the harvested mature soybean seeds using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, using an Avio 200 instrument. The obtained results demonstrated that the accumulation of heavy metals in soybean seeds is influenced by the cultivated genotype and fertilization; the Onix variety is more prone to the accumulation of heavy metals, while the highest values of the above listed metals were recorded in the case of fertilizing with „Fertitel”.