The effects of five amendments such as acetic acid（AA）, citric acid （CA）, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid （EDTA）, sepiolite and phosphogypsum on growth and metal uptake of giant reed （Arundo donax L.） grown on soil contaminated by arsenic （As）, cadmium （Cd） and lead （Pb） were studied. The results showed that the shoot biomass of giant reed was enhanced by 24.8% and 15.0%, while superoxide mutase and catalase activities slightly varied when adding 5.0 mmol/kg CA and 2.5 mol/kg EDTA to soil as compared to the control, respectively. The concentrations of As, Cd and Pb in shoots were remarkably increased by the addition of 2.5 mmol/kg AA and CA, 5.0 mmol/kg EDTA, and 4.0 g/kg sepiolite as compared to the control. The accumulations of As and Cd were also significantly enhanced in the above condition, while the shoot Pb accumulation was noticeably enhanced by amending with 4.0 g/kg sepiolite and 8.0 g/kg phosphogysum, respectively. The results suggested that AA, CA and sepiolite could be used as optimum soil amendments for giant reed remediation system.
A field investigation was performed to study the content, speciation and mobility of vanadium, as well as microbial response in soil from a stone coal smelting district in Hunan province of China. The results showed that the contents of soil V ranged from 168 to 1538 mg/kg, which exceeded the maximum permissible value of Canadian soil quality for V. The mean soil V content from wasteland area reached 1421 mg/kg, and those from the areas related with slag heap, ore pile and smelting center were 380, 260 and 225 mg/kg, respectively. Based on the results of the modified BCR sequential extraction procedure, V contents in the mobile fractions varied from 19.2 to 637 mg/kg accounting for 7.4%-42.3% of total V, and those of V(+5) species were between 21.9 and 534.0 mg/kg. Soil enzyme activity and microbial basal respiration were adversely affected by high level of soil V. More attention should be paid to soil V pollution and potential hazardous surrounding the stone coal smelting district.
