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Published on: December 24, 2014
Comparison of the bioavailability of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) in a B[a]P-contaminated soil using the different addition
Xinxin Ye1, Jingjing Ma1, Junling Wei1
1Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Farmland Ecological Conservation and Pollution Prevention, School of Resources and Environment, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China.
Abstract:
Determination of the bioavailability of the hydrophobic organic contaminant benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is extremely important for assessing its environmental risk. The effect of addition manner of B[a]P on the bioavailability and toxicity of B[a]P in soil remains unclear. In this study, soil samples, spiked with B[a]P by one-time or multiple-time additions, were tested to investigate the available fraction of B[a]P in soils, the uptake of B[a]P by red wiggler worms (Eisenia fetida), as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities in earthworm coelomocytes at different periods. Results showed that the available fraction of B[a]P in soils and the amount of B[a]P assimilated by earthworms declined sharply from 1 d to 28 d during the incubation period and then decreased slowly from 28 to 56 d in both the one-time and the multiple-time addition tests. The available fraction of B[a]P in soils and its uptake by earthworms were significantly lower in multiple-time addition samples than those in one-time addition samples, a finding which was consistent with the SOD and POD activities in earthworms during the whole 56-d incubation period. These variations in the characteristics of the two addition treatments may be due to the differences in the way the B[a]P aged in the soil. These results indicated that the addition method was an important factor influencing the bioavailability of organic contaminants in soils.
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