Heavy Metals in Soils of Aligarh District: Depth wise  Distribution and Accumulation of Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in  Vegetable Crops.

O.P. Bansal

Volume : III, Issue : VIII, August - 2013

Heavy Metals in Soils of Aligarh District: Depth wise Distribution and Accumulation of Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in Vegetable Crops.

O. P. Bansal

Abstract :

In India, there is a gradual decline in availability of fresh water for irrigation. The sewage and other industrial effluents are being used to irrigate of agricultural fields. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of continuous application of sewage–effluent irrigation on the DTPA–extractable Cd, Ni, Cr and Pb in soils and crops. For this purpose, periurban agricultural lands irrigated by different sewage effluent, from a point of entering the effluents to a distance of nearly 1.5 km and one irrigated by ground water from different parts of Aligarh district were selected where vegetable crops have successfully been grown. The data indicated that the concentration of these metals in sewage effluent irrigated soils became four to six folds in comparison to ground water irrigated soil. The data also denote that with increasing soil depth and distance from sewage entry point the concentration of these metals decreased indicating a low mobility of these metals in soils. Soil properties viz organic carbon, pH, EC and CEC exhibited positive relationship with DTPAextractable metal content, while clay content showed a negative relationship. The concentrations of Cd, Ni, Cr and Pb in different vegetable crops grown on sewage effluent irrigated soils were higher (beyond permissible limit) as compared to those grown on ground water irrigated soils. The maximum accumulation of these metals were in potato followed by maize except for Pb. Based on these results, it can be concluded that proper management of water irrigation and periodic monitoring of soil and plant quality parameters are required to ensure successful, safe and long term sewage effluent irrigation.