Availability of nickel in soil evaluated by various chemical extractants and plant accumulation

Abstract

This work presents quantitative changes of nickel in soil and plants under the influence of compost and fly ash. The research was carried out in a 3-year experiment on medium soil fertilised with compost or fly ash. The plants: narrow leaf lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.), camelina (Camelina sativa L.), and oat (Avena sativa L.) were planted in consecutive years. The soil from the experiment was subjected to extraction by sequential analysis with the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) method, and single extractions using 1 mol·dm−3 HCl and DTPA solutions, obtaining the amount of nickel in various combinations with the soil solid phase. Total contents of the metal in soil and cultivated plants were determined. On the basis of Ni contents in the soil and cultivated plants, the bioconcentration factors and the risk assessment code were calculated. The type of amendments had a significant impact on the nickel content in lupine, for camelina and oat was the greatest in the control conditions. The differences between the amounts of Ni determined for bioconcentration factors were significant and depended on the amendments and nickel obtained by different methods. Regardless of the experimental conditions, the amount of Ni in the exchangeable bonds (Fr. I) had the greatest impact on the content of Ni in lupine and oat, whereas NiDTPA in the case of camelina.