Risk of mercury contamination of agricultural crop production in the Dnipropetrovsk region

Risk of mercury contamination of agricultural crop production in the Dnipropetrovsk regionAn assessment of the mercury contamination levels in agricultural soils and plant products in the Dnipropetrovsk region was carried out at 29 monitoring sites located on ordinary chernozems and southern chernozems.The transfer of mercury from the soil to agricultural plant products was studied using the examples of winter wheat grain and sunflower seeds.The mercury content was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry.The probability density distribution of mercury concentration in soil samples and plant products was obtained by statistical modeling using the normal distribution law.For statistical analysis, series had been formed from all possible data that were accumulated during two rounds of soil surveys in the Dnipropetrovsk region and had sufficient probability.For soils, the statistical series had a number of variants from 210 4 to 410 4 ; for crop products -from 210 3 to 410 3 .Three components were distinguished on the integral probability density distribution curve of mercury content in soils in the following sequence: ordinary chernozem; southern chernozem; areas under the influence of pollution.It was found that in Dnipropetrovsk region, approximately up to 25 % of the wheat grain harvest was grown in areas contaminated with mercury, but examples with an excess of the MPC were about 4 % of the total harvest in the region.Four components were found in the integral probability density curve of the mercury content in sunflower seeds.Statistical analysis showed that the share of sunflower harvest with an excess of the MPC for mercury was 5.4 % of the total harvest in the region.Biological features of plants and agrochemical properties of soils can be attributed to the main factors affecting the transfer of mercury from soil to plants.The unequal ability of agricultural crops to accumulate toxicants is an important factor in regulating the content of heavy metals in plant products.