title: Heavy metals in intensive greenhouse vegetable production systems along Yellow Sea of China: Levels, transfer and health risk.
abstract: Recently, greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) has grown rapidly and counts a large proportion of vegetable production in China. In this study, the accumulation, health risk and threshold values of selected heavy metals were evaluated systematically. A total of 120 paired soil and vegetable samples were collected from three typical intensive GVP systems along the Yellow Sea of China. Mean concentrations of Cd, As, Hg, Pb, Cu and Zn in greenhouse soils were 0.21, 7.12, 0.05, 19.81, 24.95 and 94.11 mg kg-1, respectively. Compared to rootstalk and fruit vegetables, leafy vegetables had relatively high concentrations and transfer factors of heavy metals. The accumulation of heavy metals in soils was affected by soil pH and soil organic matter. The calculated hazard quotients (HQ) of the heavy metals by vegetable consumption decreased in the order of leafy > rootstalk > fruit vegetables with hazard index (HI) values of 0.61, 0.33 and 0.26, respectively. The HI values were all below 1, which indicates that there is a low risk of greenhouse vegetable consumption. Soil threshold values (STVs) of heavy metals in GVP system were established according to the health risk assessment. The relatively lower transfer factors of rootstalk and fruit vegetables and higher STVs suggest that these types of vegetables are more suitable for cultivation in greenhouse soils. This study will provide an useful reference for controlling heavy metals and developing sustainable GVP.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China. Electronic address: wyhu@issas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wenyou
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC), China. Electronic address: bhuang@issas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark; Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC), China.
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Yanxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D000069599:Crop Production; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Greenhouse vegetable production; Health risk assessment; Heavy metals; Soil threshold values; Transfer factor