Comparison of Three Methods for Extracting the Available Amounts of Heavy Metals Copper, Cadmium, Lead, and Nickel for Wheat in Salt-Affected Soils of Khuzestan Province

Information on soil pollution assessment and suitable extractants to determine the available amounts of heavy metals in calcareous and saline soils of Iran are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to compare EDTA pH 4.65, EDTA pH 8.6 and, DTPA pH 7.3 extractants to characterize availability of heavy metals including copper, cadmium, lead, and nickel in calcareous and saline soils of Khuzestan Province. To this end, 63 soil samples were collected from wheat fields of the province and wheat was planted under greenhouse conditions using randomized complete design with three replications. Due to salinity limitation, sequential leaching by two pore volumes of each soil was applied. Plant available amounts of copper, cadmium, lead and nickel in soils were measured with the extractants before and after leaching. Result demonstrated that DTPA pH 7.3 and EDTA pH 4.65 extracted the lowest and the highest amounts of heavy metals, respectively. Salinity reduction had different impacts on the heavy metals extraction based on the type of the metal and extractants, such that uniform and similar trends were not observed for the extracted metals. There was a significant positive correlation between the extracted copper of all three extractants and wheat copper content. This correlation for DTPA pH 7.3 extractant (r = 0.32, P ≤ 0.01) was higher than EDTA pH 4.65 (r = 0.27, P ≤ 0.05) and EDTA pH 8.6 (r = 0.25, P ≤ 0.05) extractants. For cadmium and lead, only positive and significant correlations (r = 0.33, P ≤ 0.01 and r = 0.28, P ≤ 0.05, respectively) were obtained between DTPA extract and their concentrations in wheat. No significant correlation was recorded between wheat nickel content with any of the extractants. Based on the results, it seems that the DTPA may be introduced as the most suitable extractant to determine the available copper of wheat in the calcareous and saline soils of Khuzestan. However, by considering the soil salinity, leaching requirement, and the weak correlations between the studied extractants and the plant available soil cadmium, lead, and nickel, further studies are recommended for assessment of these heavy metals.