Soil-to-Wheat Transfer of Heavy Metals Depending on the Distance from the Industrial Zone

The accumulation of heavy metals in the environment is one of the most significant environmental problems due to the potential risk to human and animal health. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of the distance from the industrial zone on the heavy metal content in the soil and vegetative parts of wheat. A field experiment with four wheat genotypes was conducted in the area of the city of Pancevo, Serbia, at three locations at different distances from the industrial zone. By atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), concentrations of five heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu, and Cd) were determined in the soil and wheat. The highest total content of Zn, Cr, Cu, and Cd in the soil (72.5, 27.3, 26.2, and 0.3 mg kg⁻¹, respectively) was found at the location closest to the industrial zone, while the highest content of Pb (28.9 mg kg⁻¹) was recorded at a location that is in the immediate vicinity of a road. Heatmap correlations and PCA analysis show a significant relationship between the content of heavy metals in the soil and the plant. Genotype Pobeda had the lowest content of Cr, Cu, and Cd in the root and the lowest content of all the analyzed heavy metals in the stem. The highest translocation factor of heavy metals was found in the genotype Apache, which had the highest content of Pb, Cr, and Cu in the stem. The highest heavy metal bioaccumulation and translocation were established for Cd content (0.86 and 1.93). The obtained results indicate a potential ecological risk in the immediate vicinity of the industrial zone, while the difference in the accumulation of heavy metals between the studied genotypes opens new aspects for breeding programs.