Sodium and Sulphur Content in Plants after Lime, Charcoal, and Loam Application to Soil Contaminated with Fluorine

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study on the effect of fluorine pollution of soil, including soil amendments, on the concentration of sodium and sulphur in six species of crops. The experiment consisted of six pot trials performed in a greenhouse. Two factors were taken into consideration: (I) Increasing doses of fluorine (0, 20, 40, and 60 mg F kg−1 of soil for narrow-leaf lupine and 0, 100, 200, and 300 mg F kg−1 of soil for yellow lupine, winter oilseed rape, spring triticale, black radish, and phacelia) and (II) neutralizing substances (lime–1 HAC, charcoal and loam–3% relative to the soil mass). The highest sodium content was in t roots of winter oilseed rape, and the lowest was in the grain of spring triticale. Large differences were detected in the Na content between the analyzed organs of phacelia. The roots of this plant contained 16-fold more sodium than aerial parts. The highest average content of sulphur was in yellow lupine aerial parts, and the lowest was in spring triticale aerial biomass. The increasingly severe soil pollution with fluorine, in most cases, led to a decline in the sodium and sulphur content in the analyzed crops. The highest degree of soil contamination with fluorine had the strongest negative effect in this regard. The content of the analyzed macronutrients concerned the species and organs of a crop, the dose of the tested xenobiotic, and the substance applied to soil for the inactivation of fluorine. A decrease in the sodium content in most of the tested crops could be attributed to the fact that fluorine ‘reacts’, i.e., binds sodium into compounds that are hardly soluble in water, thereby limiting sodium phytovailability.