A field experiment investigating the effects of olive husk and cow manure on heavy metal availability in a contaminated calcareous soil from Murcia (Spain)

The transfer of heavy metals from the former sites of mining activity in La Unión (Murcia) to the nearby agricultural soils is a serious environmental risk. The effect of two organic wastes, used as soil amendments, on the bioavailability of heavy metals in an agricultural soil and on their accumulation in Beta vulgaris L. var. Nomonta and Beta maritima L. was studied in a field experiment. The soil was a calcareous Xeric Torriorthent and the total metal levels were (mg kg−1): 2706 Zn, 3235 Pb, 39 Cu. The treatments were: fresh cow manure, olive husk and inorganic fertiliser as a control. Two successive crops (B. vulgaris and B. maritima) were grown. The soil was sampled before each planting and after each harvest. B. vulgaris behaved as a metal indicator plant, as its concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Mn and Pb) in all treatments reflected the extractable soil levels. The high concentrations of metals, especially Pb (5.1–16.8 times the EU limit for plant foodstuffs), revealed a health risk for human and livestock due to the spread of the metal pollution from mining sites to agricultural areas. Cow manure did not alter the DTPA-extractable concentrations of metals in the soil or their absorption by plants in comparison with the control. But olive husk favoured solubility of metals in soils and their accumulation in plants, due to the reduction of Mn oxides during degradation of phenolic compounds. So, this material could be a useful amendment for phytoextraction of metals by accumulator species, while manure can be very useful for phytostabilisation.