As more contaminated sites are being discovered, new in situ remediation techniques need to be developed. Chemically treating soil with lime to increase soil pH is a method that may decrease the bioavailability of the contaminant. To test the usefulness of rendering metal-contaminated soils alkaline with dolomitic lime, to improve crop performance, field trials at a site in Port Colborne, ON, with soil nickel concentration (as high as 5000 mg/kg) from refinery emissions were completed. Oat and soybean yield, as well as plant uptake and bioavailabilty of nickel in soil were evaluated. Liming Ni-contaminated soils decreased soybean foliar Ni concentrations from 36.68 µg/g in unlimed fields to 19.98 µg/g in 50 t/ha limed fields in the 2007 growing season; yield of both oat and soybean in unlimed soils was the same (p>0.05) as at a reference site, suggesting that for these soils, remediation is not necessary for yield.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OGU.10214/4005 |
| Date | 14 September 2012 |
| Creators | Cioccio, Stephen Christopher |
| Contributors | Hale, Beverley |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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