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Mixed contaminated brownfield sites have brought serious risks to human health and environmental safety. With the purpose of removing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals from a coking plant site, an innovative technology for ex-situ washing was developed in the present work. The combination of 15.0 mL L −1 soybean oil and 7.5 g L −1 tea saponin proved an effective method to extract co-pollutants from soil. After two consecutive washing cycles, the efficiency rates of removal for 3-, 4-, 5(+6)-ring, and total PAHs, Cd, and Ni were approximately 98.2%, 96.4%, 92.3%, 96.3%, 94.1%, and 89.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, as evaluated by Tenax extraction method and metal stability indices, the residual PAHs and heavy metals after consecutive washing mainly existed in the form with extremely low bioaccessibility in the soil. Thus, in the soil after two washing cycles, there appeared limited environmental transfer risk of co-pollutants. Moreover, a subsequent precipitation method with alkaline solution and PAH-degrading strain Sphingobium sp. PHE9 inoculation effectively removed 84.6%–100% of Cd, 82.5%–91.7% of Ni, and 92.6%–98.4% of PAHs from the first and second washing solvents. The recovered solvents also exhibited a high recycling effectiveness. Therefore, the combined cleanup strategy proposed in this study proved environmentally friendly, which also played a major role in risk assessment and management in mixed polluted sites.

Remediation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)/heavy metals/antibiotics mixed contaminated soil with high abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has being greatly challenging. An elevated soil washing procedure was developed to investigate the potential of applying DNA solution to extract PBDEs, Cu, Pb, tetracycline, and sulfadiazine from a high abundance of ARG-affected soil, followed by microbial augmentation to restore the microbiological functioning of washed soil. Two successive washings with 15 g L−1 DNA solution plus ultrasonication (25 kHz for 15 min) were optimal for extracting 80.6 % BDE28, 85.2 % BDE47, 64.7 % Cu, 60.3 % Pb, 100 % tetracycline, and 100 % sulfadiazine. Simultaneously, the ARG abundance decreased to the level of 10−7–10−8 (ARGs copies/16S copies). Moreover, combined treatment with PBDE-degrading bacteria inoculation and nutrient application for 3 months to the second washed soil resulted in the further degradation of residual BDE28 and BDE47. Furthermore, the bacterial community composition was restored and the transfer risk of residual pollutants was limited, as indicated by high-throughput sequencing technology analysis and heavy metals stability model evaluation. The combined cleanup technology is an environmentally friendly and effective technology to remediate mixed contaminated soils.

To identify the key soil parameters influencing N2O emission from the wheat-growing season, an outdoor pot experiment with a total of 18 fertilized Chinese soils planted with wheat was conducted in Nanjing, China during the 2000/2001 wheat-growing season. Average seasonal N2O-N emission for all 18 soils was 610 mg m–2, ranging from 193 to 1,204 mg m–2, approximately a 6.2-fold difference between the maximum and the minimum. Correlation analysis indicated that the seasonal N2O emission was negatively correlated with soil organic C (r2=0.5567, P

To identify the key soil parameters influencing CH4 emission from rice paddies, an outdoor pot experiment with a total of 18 paddy soils was conducted in Nanjing Agricultural University during the 2000 rice growing season. The seasonal average rate of CH4 emission for all 18 soils was 6.42±2.70 mg m−2 h−1, with a range of 1.96 to 11.06 mg m−2 h−1. Correlation analysis indicated that the seasonal average of CH4 emission was positively dependent on soil sand content and negatively on total N as well as NH4 +-N determined before rice transplanting. Copper content of soils had a significant negative impact on CH4 emission. No clear relationship existed between CH4 emission and soil carbon content. In addition, soil type cannot explain the variability in CH4 emission. Soil parameters influencing CH4 emission were different as rice growth and development proceeded. A further investigation suggested that the seasonal average rate of CH4 emission could be quantitatively determined by a linear combination of soil NH4 +-N, available copper, the ratio of available to total sulphur, and the ratio of available to total iron. Moreover, the average rates of CH4 emission in the vegetative, reproductive and ripening stages could be also respectively described by a linear combination of different soil variables.

Aluminum speciation is recognized to associate with environmental pH. In this paper, the effects of aluminum speciation (A1a, A1b) on the growth, protein content, acid phosphatase (AP) activity of wheat root were studied by changing the pH of aluminum solutions. Two concentrations of total aluminum, 25 micromol x L(-1) (T1) and 75 micromol x L(-1) (T2), were set up in the test solutions, and four levels of pH, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 and 5.5, were regulated for each solution. The results indicated that the growth of wheat root in T1 and T2 was strongly inhibited by low doses of Ala and Alb, while the changing trend of protein content and AP activity varied when exposed to different composition of active A1. When the A1a concentration was above 90% of the active Al concentration, the protein content was reduced while the AP activity was enhanced by Al at pH 4.0, but it was reverse at pH 5.0 when the concentration of Ala and Alb was below 10 micromol x L(-1), respectively.

Calcium loss from soil has dramatically increased for decades due to the increase of nitrogen input and/or the extension of acid rain, while calcium input into soil has declined substantially for the replacement of superphosphate by ammonium phosphate in fertilization, which intensified the imbalance of calcium input and output in agro-ecosystems, and needed to be solved in the near future for the sustainability of agriculture in such a country like China where the arable land resource is very limited. In recent years, the intensified soil acidification is mainly attributed to the root proton secretion stimulated by fertilization, and the nitrogen input from precipitation near industrialized regions promotes plant growth but results in other nutrients deficiency, which in turn acidifies soil and causes tree death. One of the most important mechanisms of saline soil bioremediation by sesbania is the activation of soil calcium by sesbania's proton secretion and the increase of soil calcium supply for subsequent crops. The present paper summarized the roles of calcium in plant tolerance to the stresses like acidosis, toxic metals, osmosis, ammonium toxicity, drought, extreme temperature (cold or heat shock), anoxia and pathogen infection, and the measures for maintaining soil calcium fertility. It was suggested that the production of ammonium phosphate should not be a pursued target for China's phosphorus fertilizer industry, and the roles of calcium in plant growth should be taken into account in fertilization experimental designs to make the experiments more accurate.

Field experiment was conducted in 2001 rice growing season to understand the effect of organic manure application on CH4 and N2O emissions. Five treatments of fertilizer including urea and NH4HCO3 used as chemical fertilizer (CF), chemical fertilizer + pig manure (CF + PM), chemical fertilizer + cow manure (CF + CM), chemical fertilizer + rapeseed cake (CF + RC) and chemical fertilizer + wheat straw (CF + WS) were dedicated to this experiment. Results from the field observations indicated that application of the organic manure did not change the seasonal pattern of CH4 and N2O emissions but significantly affected the seasonal amounts. Seasonal amount of CH4 emission from the treatments of CF + CM, CF + RC and CF + WS was respectively 45%, 252% and 250% higher than that from the treatment of CF, but the application of pig manure (CF + PM) did not significantly influence the CH4 emission. The N2O emissions, on the other hand, were reduced by 18%, 21% and 18% for the treatments of CF + PM, CF + CM and CF + WS, respectively. Incorporation of rapeseed cake enhanced the N2O emission, yielding an increment of 22%. On a time scale of 20-year period, the integrated global warming potential (GWP) of CH4 + N2O released during the rice growing season for the treatments of CF + RC, CF + WS and CF + CM was respectively 154%, 136% and 17% higher than that for the CF treatment, while a reduction of 10% was obtained for the CF + PM treatment. The calculation of the GWP per unit rice grain yield suggested that the application of pig manure took the slight advantages not only in reducing the GWP but also in improving the grain yield.

Outdoor pot experiments with various paddy soils representing five soil types were conducted at Nanjing Agricultural University during the 2000 and 2001 rice-growing seasons. Eighteen soils and ten out of the eighteen soils were involved in the 2000 and the 2001 experiment, respectively. Two treatments were designed as mineral fertilization (MF) and mineral fertilizer + wheat straw incorporation (MF + WS) for the 2001 experiment. Seasonal average rate of CH4 emission from different soils ranged from 1.96 to 11.06 mg m(-2) h(-1) in the 2000 experiment, and from 0.89 to 5.92 mg m(-2) h(-1) for the MF treatment in the 2001 experiment, respectively. Incorporation of wheat straw enhanced considerably CH4 emission with an average increment of 7.09 mg m(-2) h(-1). CH4 emissions from the two-year experiment were negatively correlated to soil available and total copper concentration. A further investigation showed that CH4 emission from the MF treatment was positively related to the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the soil (r = 0.904, p < 0.001), and that the DOC was negatively correlated to the concentrations of available copper (r = -0.844, p < 0.01) and total copper (r = -0.833, p < 0.01), respectively. Nevertheless, the incorporation of wheat straw did not enhance the soil DOC, and the relationship between CH4 emission and soil DOC was not statistically significant (r = 0.470, p < 0.20). It was concluded that higher concentration of copper in the soils resulted in lower soil DOC and thus reduced CH4 emission when there was no additional organic matter input. Incorporation of wheat straw did not affect soil DOC and available copper concentration but enhanced CH4 emission.

To identify the key soil parameters influencing methane emission from rice paddies, and to quantitatively describe the relationship of methane emission with the soil properties, an outdoor pot experiment with a total of 18 paddy soils sampled from different regions in Jiangsu province was conducted in Nanjing Agricultural University during 2000 rice growing season. Seasonal average rate of CH4 emission for all the 18 soils was 6.42 +/- 2.70 mg.(m2.h)-1, ranging from 1.96 to 11.06 mg.(m2.h)-1, approximately a 5.6-fold difference between the maximum and the minimum. Correlation analysis indicated that the seasonal average of CH4 emission was positively dependent on soil sand content (r = 0.528, p = 0.024) and negatively on soil clay content (r = -0.484, p = 0.042). Negative correlation of CH4 emission against soil total nitrogen (r = -0.449, p = 0.062), available nitrogen (r = -0.611, p = 0.007) and NH4(+)-N(r = -0.649, p = 0.004) was also observed. Copper content of soils has a significant negative impact on CH4 emission. The correlation coefficient (r) of CH4 emission against soil available copper and with total copper was -0.594 (p = 0.009) and -0.547 (p = 0.019), respectively. No clear relationship existed between CH4 emission and soil carbon content. A further investigation suggests that the seasonal average rate of CH4 emission can be quantitatively determined by a linear combination of soil available copper, total manganese, and a ratio of available to total iron (R2 = 0.755, p = 0.0001).

Municipal sewage sludge was composted for 53 days with Chinese medical herb residues as bulking agent through forced aerated static pile model. The temperature of the pile could quickly rise to more than 55 degrees C after the second day after composting. Furthermore, the temperature of more than 55 degrees C maintained as long as 8 days, which was helpful in inactivation of pathogens in compost. The cress seed germination index (GI) and the ratio of water-soluble organic carbon to organic nitrogen (soluble C/N-organic), used as indicators of phytotoxicity and maturation of compost, exhibited that the sludge compost was almost stabilized and matured near the 40th day of composting, when 80% of GI and 6.4 of soluble C/N-organic were obtained. The content of total N, P, Cu, Zn and Cd in compost increased as the composting time elapsed, while volatile solids, solid and water soluble organic carbons, pH, and NH4(+)-N decreased. F. coli, as a common indicator of pathogens in sludge, was reduced greatly from 1.41 x 10(5) to 2.32 x 10(1) in the final examination of the compost.

To quantitatively investigate the effects of environmental factors on organic carbon decomposition, CO2-C was measured from the incubation of wheat and rice straw as well as their roots mixed with a paddy soil over a 90-day period. Results showed that decomposition of the straw carbon was faster than that of the roots. Amount of CO2-C released from the organic matter decomposition was quantitatively related to its properties of C/N ratio. Increase of temperature within a lower temperature range enhanced greatly the decomposition while such an enhancement weakened within a higher temperature range. Under the moist condition, the temperature coefficient of organic carbon decomposition declined exponentially with the incubation time. The temperature coefficient did not significantly decrease with the time for the submerged condition after one-week incubation. The effect of water status showed that the decomposition at the water contents of 300 g.kg-1 and 500 g.kg-1 was faster than that under the treatments of 200 g.kg-1 and the submerged. Within the first month period of incubation, carbon amount released from the incubation of wheat straw was negatively related to the clay fraction of the soils.