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Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 289 – 294

2011 3rd International Conferencewww.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

on Environmental
Science and Information Application Technology (ESIAT 2011)
Accumulation Characteristics of Copper and Cadmium in
Greenhouse Vegetable Soils In Tongzhou District Of Beijing
H. Z. Zhang*, H. Li, Z. Wang, L. D. Zhou
Institute of Agricultural Integrated Development, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097 (China)

Abstract

The accumulation of heavy metals in greenhouse vegetable soil is one of the main reasons leading to the deterioration of soil quality
and the contamination of agricultural products by heavy metals. A survey was conducted to determine the status of copper and
cadmium accumulations in greenhouse vegetable soils in Tongzhou of Beijing. Based on the investigated results, the contamination
degree of the two heavy metals in the greenhouse vegetable soils was assessed and the main influence factors caused the
accumulation of copper and cadmium was analyzed. The results indicated that there was a distinct increase of copper and cadmium
concentration in greenhouse vegetable soils. The concentrations of copper and cadmium in part of soil samples exceeded the
environmental quality evaluation standard for farmland of greenhouse vegetables production of China. These over-standard soil
samples were mainly collected from Lucheng town and Xiji town. The contents of copper and cadmium in greenhouse soil were
increased significantly as the cultivated time of the soil added. The content of copper in greenhouse soil varied from 19.8 mg/kg to
39.2 mg/kg when the cultivation time of the greenhouse increased from 1 year to 5 years, nearly increased one times. The content of
cadmium in vegetable soils of 20-year age greenhouse was 3.2 times of that in 1-year age greenhouse. Significant correlations were
found between the content of copper and cadmium in soil, soil organic carbon content, CEC, and available phosphorus and
potassium content in soils. Soil physical and chemical properties should be considerated integratedly to reduce the heavy metal
contamination in greenhouse soils.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Conference ESIAT2011 Organization Committee.
Keywords: copper, cadmium, accumulation, soil, greenhouse vegetable

1 Introduction

Facility agriculture has been vigorously promoted in Beijing in the past decade. Despite the rapid growth in
greenhouse vegetable cultivation area, the development of greenhouse production and management technology is
relatively backward. With large quantities of pesticides and fertilizers applied in agricultural production, the
accumulation of heavy metals in farmland soil increased over time. The soil quality decline and food safety issues
caused by the heavy metal contamination are received extensive attentions now. Tongzhou is one of the major
vegetable production areas in Beijing. Long-time and large-scale greenhouse vegetable cultivation in Tongzhou led to
more serious heavy metal accumulation compared with the other counties in Beijing. Thus, there is very important
practical significance to analyze the heavy metal contamination in greenhouse vegetable soils in Tongzhou for
promoting the safe production of vegetables and the farmland sustainable use in Beijing.
Most studies on the heavy metal contamination in greenhouse soil have shown that the concentrations of heavy
metals in the greenhouse soil were not exceeded the national environmental quality evaluation standards for farmland
of greenhouse vegetables production (HJ333-2006). However, heavy metals in vegetable soil were significantly
enriched with the increase of the cultivated time of the greenhouse. The contents of CdǃCuǃZn and Pb in greenhouse
vegetable soils were nearly twice of the background value (Li, et al., 2005; Du, et al., 2006; Zeng, et al., 2007).
Accumulation of Hg and Ni in greenhouse soil was also found in the research (Liu, et al., 2008; Liu, et al., 2011).
Shandong, Jiangsu, Yunnan and the north China were the major producing areas of greenhouse vegetable in
China. Most researches on heavy metal accumulation in greenhouse vegetable soils were conducted in these areas (Li,
et al., 2005; Gao, et al., 2007; Liu, et al., 2008). Results from Huang (2008) indicated that soils from the greenhouse

*
Corresponding author: zhanghuizhi@sina.com
1878-0296 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Conference ESIAT2011 Organization Committee.
doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2011.09.047
290 H. Z. Zhang et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 289 – 294

vegetable field in Huabei plain were slightly contaminated by heavy metals according to the comprehensive pollution
index, and the soils were contaminated with Cd according to the single-factor pollution index. Soil heavy metal
pollution in Beijing is currently focused on the open-field vegetable soils. Researches showed that there were
significant accumulation of Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr and As in open-field vegetable soils in Beijing (Zheng, et al., 2005;
2006; Chen et al., 2006; Song, et al., 2009). There is relatively lack of the research on heavy metal acumination in
greenhouse vegetable soils in Beijing suburbs now. High quality soil environment is the prerequisite for the high
quality vegetable production. In this study, the status and the spatial distribution of the heavy metal accumulation in
greenhouse soils in Beijing suburbs were analyzed, which could help to control and reduce heavy metal pollution in
vegetable soils and to carry out scientific and reasonable vegetable production in this region.

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Brief Introduction to the study area

Tongzhou is located at the southeast of Beijing. It is at the northern end of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The
regional geographic coordinates of Tongzhou are between 39º 36ƍ and 40º 02ƍ latitude north and between 116º 32ƍ and
116º 56ƍ longitude east. Because Tongzhou is located at the alluvial plain of Yongding River and Chaobai River, the
soil is mostly sandy loam and loess, which is usually fertile. There is a sewage irrigation area in Tongzhou, which is
the part of southeast sewage irrigation area in Beijing suburb. The land at the east of Chaobai River is the clear water
irrigation area. The land between Chaobai River and Beiyun River is the mixing irrigation area. The lands at the west
Beiyun River and along the Fengganjian Rvier are irrigated with sewage for nearly 40 years (Lu, et al., 2005).

Figure 1 Locations of greenhouse vegetable soil samples in Tongzhou

2.2 Soil sampling

A total of 158 samples, consisting of 137 samples of greenhouse vegetable soils (0-20 cm depth), 14 samples of
open-field vegetable soils and 7 samples of farmland soils, were collected from Songzhuang, Xiji, Zhangjiawan,
Kuoxian, Yongledian, Lucheng and Yujiawu in Tongzhou. Soil type, land use type, area of the town and greenhouse
 H. Z. Zhang et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 289 – 294 291

vegetable cultivation area were take into account to determine the number and the distribution of soil samples.
Multi-points sampling method was use in the soil sampling. The distribution of the soil samples was presented in
figure 1.

2.3 Soil sample analysis

The soil samples were air dried, disaggregated, and sieved to less than 2 mm. The sieved samples were then
digested with a mixture of aqua regia and HClO4. The digestions were analyzed on a flame atomic absorption
spectrometer for total metals (Cu and Cd) with the blank values being deducted from the measurement. Soil pH was
measured in a 1: 2.5 soil-to-water suspension after stirring for 2 h. The TOC content of the soil was determined by
potassium dichromate oxidation method. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) was determined in a 10%
Ba(CH3COO)x. H2O and 0.1 M MgSO4 extraction solutions. Salt content in the soil was determined by gravimetric
method. Alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen, available phosphorus and potassium were measured according to the method
provided by LY/T 1230-1999.

3 Results And Discussion

3.1 Accumulation of Cu and Cd in greenhouse vegetable soils

Results indicated that copper significantly accumulated in greenhouse vegetable soil in Tongzhou (see Figure 2).
Concentrations of Cu in 50% soil samples were higher than the local soil background values. According to the
environmental quality evaluation standards for farmland of greenhouse vegetables production, when the soil pH
values > 6.5, total soil Cu content ̰ 100 mg / kg. The contents of Cu in most of the samples did not exceed the limit.
Only 3% samples were exceeded the limit. In accordance with the national soil environmental quality standard
(GB15618-1995) requirements, soil quality in most of the research areas met the category II. 3% of the soil samples,
mainly collected from Songzhuang, Lucheng and Xiji towns, were belonging to Category III, which indicated that
soils in these areas were contaminated by Cu slightly.
The cadmium in greenhouse vegetable soils in Tongzhou was also accumulated significantly (see Figure 2).
Concentrations of Cd in 30% soil samples were higher than the local soil background values. Content of Cd in 7.5% of
soil samples were higher than the limit for greenhouse vegetables production. Content of Cd in 3.4% of soil samples
were higher than the limit of category II in the national soil environmental quality standard. 2% of sampling soils were
contaminated by Cd, which mainly distributed in Lucheng, Xiji and Yongledian.
292 H. Z. Zhang et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 289 – 294

Figure 2 Accumulation and distribution of Cu and Cd in soils in Tongzhou

3.2 Variation of Cu and Cd contents in greenhouse vegetable soils with the increase of cultivation time

Figure 3 showed the variations of the contents of Cu and Cd in greenhouse vegetable soils with the increase of
cultivation time of the greenhouses. Average content of heavy metal in open-field vegetable and farmland were used as
reference in the research. Results indicated that the content of Cu in plastic greenhouse soils and solar greenhouse soil
decreased in the first year, which was even lower than that in the wheat field. From the second year, the content of Cu
in greenhouse soil increased over time. Cu is an essential element in the growth of vegetables. In the first year, a large
amount of Cu in the soil was transferred with the vegetable harvest. With the excessive chemical and organic
fertilizers applied into the soil, the amount of Cu in the soil was more than the vegetable growth demand. The extra Cu
was thus accumulated in the soil gradually. The soil Cd content in 1-year solar greenhouse was lower than that in the
surrounding open-field vegetable soils, but was higher than that in the farmland soils. There were significant positive
correlations between soil Cu and Cd contents and cultivation time of greenhouse, of which the Pearson correlation
coefficients were 0.941 and 0.885, respectively. The content of Cu in the open-field vegetable soil was higher than that
in the solar greenhouse soil and the 5-year plastic greenhouse soil. The content of Cu in the wheat field soil reached
the first level of the national standard of soil environmental quality, which indicated that the soil in wheat field haven’t
been contaminated by heavy metals yet. The content of Cd in the vegetable soil in open field was higher than that in
the plastic greenhouse, and lower than that in 20-year solar greenhouse. The content of Cd in the wheat field soil
reached the first level of the national standard of soil environmental quality.
The accumulation of Cu in the plastic greenhouse soil was faster than that in the solar greenhouse soil. The
content of Cu in the plastic greenhouse soil was ranged from 19.8 mg/kg to 39.2 mg/kg when the cultivation time of
the greenhouse increased from 1 year to 5 years, which increased nearly 1 times within 5 years. The content of Cu in
1-year solar greenhouse soil was 1.3 times of that in 5-year solar greenhouse soil. The content of Cu in the plastic
greenhouse soil cultivated more than 2 years was higher than that in the solar greenhouse soil. The contents of Cd in
the plastic greenhouse soils were significantly higher than that in the solar greenhouse.
 H. Z. Zhang et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 289 – 294 293

Solar greenhouse Plastic greenhouse Solar greenhouse Plastic greenhouse

0.35 Open vegetable field Farmland
Open vegetable field Farmland

Content of Cd in soil (mg/kg

60 0.3
Content of Cu in soil (mg/kg

50 0.25
40 0.2
30 0.15

20 0.1

10 0.05

0 0
1 2 5 8 10 20 1 2 5 8 10 20
Cultivation time of the greenhouse (year) Cultivation time of the greenhouse (year)

Figure 3 Variation of the content of Cu and Cd in soil with the cultivation time of the greenhouse

3.3 Influence factors of Cu and Cd accumulation in greenhouse vegetable soils

Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the influence of soil physi-chemical properties on the
accumulation of Cu and Cd in greenhouse vegetable soils. The Pearson correlation coefficients between the Cu and Cd
content and the physicochemical properties of greenhouse vegetable soils were presented in table 1. Results
demonstrated that there were significant positive correlation between the soil Cu and Cd contents, soil organic matter
content, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and soil available nutrients, which indicated that the content of soil Cu and
Cd increased with the increase of soil organic matter content, CEC and soil available nutrients. A significant negative
correlation between the soil Cu and Cd contents and the soil pH value was found, which indicated that the content of
soil Cu and Cd decreased with the increase of soil pH. There was no significant correlation between the soil heavy
metal content and soil salt content. Therefore, when measurements were developed to mitigate and control the
vegetable soil Cu and Cd accumulation, comprehensive consideration of the above factors was needed.

Table 1 Pearson correlation coefficients between the Cu and Cd content and the physic-chemical properties of greenhouse vegetable soils

Heavy metal Organic Salt Alkali-hydrolysable Available Available

pH CEC
concentrations matter content N P K
Soil Cu
-0.403** 0.422** 0.307** 0.124 0.192** 0.684** 0.240**
concentration
Soil Cd
-0.566** 0.312** 0.245** 0.142 0.064 0.442** 0.234**
concentration

4 Conclusions

Cu and Cd were significantly accumulated in greenhouse vegetable soils in Tongzhou. Part of the soil samples
collected from Songzhuang, Lucheng and Xiji were contaminated by Cu slightly. Some soil samples from Lucheng,
Xiji and Yongledian were contaminated by Cd. The content of Cu and Cd in soil increased with the increase of
cultivation time of the greenhouse. The accumulation of Cu and Cd in the plastic greenhouse soil was faster than that
in the solar greenhouse soil. The contents of Cu and Cd in the 8-year greenhouse vegetable soils were lower than that
in the open-field vegetable soils. Vegetable soil copper and cadmium contents were significantly correlated with soil
organic matter content, pH, soil cation exchange capacity and soil nutrient contents.

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