Effects of different fertilizers on soil-borne DDTs dynamics and its impacts on DDTs uptake by Ipomoea Aquatica

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted to examine the effects of various fertilizers on the dynamics of soil-borne DDTs and their subsequent impacts on DDTs uptake by a test plant. The results show that there was a significantly lower soil residual DDTs concentration in the iron-rich fertilizer-treated soil than in other fertilizer-treated soils. However, all the non-iron-rich fertilizers showed no significant effect on the reduction of soil DDTs on the last day of the experiment, as compared to the control. There was a close relationship between the soil residual DDTs and plant tissue DDTs. This suggests that the uptake rate of DDTs by the plant was dependent on the concentration of soil-borne DDTs. Application of iron-rich fertilizer enhanced the degradation of the soil DDTs and subsequently reduced the uptake of DDTs by the test plant. The findings obtained from this study have implications for remediation of DDTs-polluted soils