Mobility of Zinc in Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil after Compost Amendment and <i>Brassica juncea</i> Harvest

Abstract

Pot experiments were performed to investigate the effect of compost amendment on the mobility of zinc through analysis of Zn fractions in heavy metal contaminated soil. The results showed that the total Zn concentration decreased 8.11%, 10.15%, 16.15%, 20.05%, 7.28% and 5.02% after the amendment of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 g/kg compost to soil and Brassica juncea harvest, respectively. Zn was mostly concentrated in the residual fraction and Fe-Mn oxides fraction in soil. The percentage of Zn in water-soluble fraction, organic fraction and residual fraction had no correlation with the amount of compost amendment. The percentage of Zn in the exchangeable fraction decreased and the percentage of Zn in Fe-Mn oxides fractions increased obviously. Furthermore, the mobility factor of Zn decreased significantly from 19.20% without compost amendment to 19.09%, 18.70%, 18.15%, 16.45% and 16.12% after the amendment of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 g/kg compost to soil, the compost amendment could lowered the mobility and phytotoxicity of zinc through bound to Fe-Mn oxides.