Effects of lime on nickel uptake and toxicity in celery grown on muck soil contaminated by a nickel refinery.
A study was conducted to investigate the effects of soil lime application as a means of conteracting nickel phytotoxicity in muck soil. Metal-contaminated muck soil (5700 micrograms g-1 Ni, 650 micrograms g-1 Cu and 90 micrograms g-1 Co) was obtained from a farm adjacent to a nickel refinery in southern Ontario and was placed on a field test plot at Brampton, Ontario, during the summer of 1984. The treatments were: (a) control soil (uncontaminated), (b) unlimed metal soil and (c) limed metal soil. Calcium hydroxide was used at the rate of 10 t ha-1 to raise the pH of the metal-rich soil from approximately 5.7 to 6.9. The amount of Ni extracted by ammonium acetate was reduced by 36% in the limed metal soil compared with the unlimed metal soil. Distinct Ni-toxicity foliar symptoms appeared only on celery grown on the unlimed metal soil. The unlimed metal treatment resulted in an average celery shoot weight 28% less than the control (significant at P = 0.05). Liming the metal soil increased average celery shoot height by 36.5% (significant at P = 0.05), but slight increases in shoot and root weight of 13 and 8%, respectively, were not significant.
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Phytotoxicology Section, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto, Canada.
D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology; D017610:Calcium Compounds; D009532:Nickel / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010087:Oxides / Q000494:pharmacology; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000187:drug effects*; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014675:Vegetables
D017610:Calcium Compounds; D010087:Oxides; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D009532:Nickel; C016538:lime; D002118:Calcium