Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 2
Written by Mihaela COSTEA, Nicoleta-Olimpia VRÎNCEANU, Dumitru-Marian MOTELICĂ, Florența PARASCHIV (JAFRI), Costică CIONTU
The study investigated the effects of cadmium, lead, zinc, and copper contamination on the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.). The experiment was conducted using soil materials contaminated with heavy metals, collected from 24 individual households in the Copșa Mică area, selected to ensure a large range of soil reactions and total heavy metal content. To evaluate the mobility and bioaccessibility of the metals, pepper seedlings (Capsicum annuum L.) were cultivated in green-house conditions. The mobility of metals were assessed by using two extraction methods:extraction with solution NH4NO3 (1M) for the easily exchangeable forms and DTPA-CaCl2-TEA, for the bioavailable forms. Experimental data indicated a significant correlation between the cadmium and lead content in soil, in their bioavailable forms, and their content in edible parts of pepper plants. Cadmium demonstrated higher mobility and bioaccumulation compared to lead. The results showed that pepper plants have a relatively low capacity to bioaccumulate zinc and copper but can accumulate cadmium and lead under highly soil contamination conditions.
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