Electronic Journal of Polish Agricultural Universities (EJPAU) founded by all Polish Agriculture Universities presents original papers and review articles relevant to all aspects of agricultural sciences. It is target for persons working both in science and industry,regulatory agencies or teaching in agricultural sector. Covered by IFIS Publishing (Food Science and Technology Abstracts), ELSEVIER Science - Food Science and Technology Program, CAS USA (Chemical Abstracts), CABI Publishing UK and ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publisher - full membership). Presented in the Master List of Thomson ISI.
2017
Volume 20
Issue 4
Topic:
Agricultural Engineering
ELECTRONIC
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Bęś A. , Warmiński K. 2017. RESPIRATORY ACTIVITY OF SOILS CONTAMINATED WITH DIESEL OIL
DOI:10.30825/5.ejpau.37.2017.20.4, EJPAU 20(4), #10.
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume20/issue4/art-10.html

RESPIRATORY ACTIVITY OF SOILS CONTAMINATED WITH DIESEL OIL
DOI:10.30825/5.EJPAU.37.2017.20.4

Agnieszka Bęś, Kazimierz Warmiński
Research Group of Environmental Toxicology, Department of Chemistry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland

 

ABSTRACT

Respiratory activity (specified by carbon dioxide release) was tested in soils polluted with diesel oil, sampled from pots after the end of the growing season. Carbon dioxide release was determined by the absorption method. The samples collected from pots were brought to a moisture content of 60% maximum water-holding capacity. Carbon dioxide emission was determined at three temperatures: 10°C, 15°C and 20°C. Incubation was conducted in an ST3C60 thermostatic cabinet. The results obtained from the tests were analysed by ANOVA (F-test) for factorial designs. Significant differences were determined by Duncan’s test at the significance level of P = 0.01.

The aim of the paper was to determine the respiratory activity of soils contaminated with diesel oil. For the soils polluted with diesel oil on which Scots pine grew, the objects with a zero diesel oil dose had the highest carbon dioxide emission. The increasing of the petroleum derivative dose caused a decrease in CO2 release. An inverse relationship was observed for the soils with European beech seedlings, the highest emission (average from 3 days) was recorded from the soils treated with the highest diesel oil doses. In analysing the objects devoid of plants, it was observed that the diesel oil dose had not affected the CO2 emission rate. The respiratory activity of these soils was at one statistical level, regardless of the pollution level. The highest carbon dioxide emission was recorded after 1 day of measurement (in both the planted and unplanted objects) and the carbon dioxide release decreased over time.

Key words: carbon dioxide, soil, fuel, Scots pine, European beech.

INTRODUCTION

The notion of “soil aeration” consists of: the soil air content, its transport in soil as well as its exchange between the soil and atmosphere and the mutual interaction of soil air with plant roots together with the overall effect on the chemical and biological processes occurring in the soil.

The respiratory activity of soil depends on the type of soil formation, the soil moisture content and temperature and the type of plant cover. Respiration is considered one of the main biological activity parameters. Degradation processes taking place under the influence of different factors and the forms of soil regeneration, among others, can be determined on its basis. The factors influencing the intensity of CO2 release also include: the organic matter content, the pH, the heavy metal content, pollution with petroleum derivatives and the type of fertilization. Other factors playing a significant role in the respiratory activity of soils include the soil acidity level, which limits the number of soil microorganisms and inhibits this process. The long-term application of mineral fertilizers leads to a substantial reduction in the respiratory capacity of soil and decreased plant yields. The application of liming together with the use of mineral and organic fertilizers eliminates this problem and causes an increase in the respiratory capacity of soil. As with the application of liming, a rise in temperature results in the elevated respiratory activity of the tested soils. At a temperature of 4°C, the mean respiratory activity of organic soils ranged from 1.2–2.8 mg C-CO2 kg-1 24h-1, at 10°C from 1.9–5.5 mg C-CO2 kg-1 24h-1 and at 20°C from 10.9–16.7 mg C-CO2 kg-1 24h-1 [1–4].

The problem of land pollution with petroleum-derived waste has been growing in industrialized countries over the last century. The development of the automotive industry and the constantly increasing industrialization have caused an increase in the demand for petroleum products and led to an unavoidable rise in contamination by these compounds. Oily soils, waste and sewage have a substantial, constantly growing contribution to land surface degradation. Petroleum and its derivatives are one of the most serious environmental hazards in Poland. They penetrate into soil, water and air in many different ways (mainly with human participation) and there undergo transformation into secondary pollutants, partial degradation or penetrate into the links of the human and animal food chain causing its contamination. The origin and route of these substances which reach the ground have an enormous effect on the character of subsequent forms of forming pollutants. Contamination of soils with petroleum derivatives causes a decrease in their biological activity. The saturation of soils with these products destroys soil and plant microorganisms, the colloidal soil structure and disturbs the physical properties of soils. This produces an oxygen shortage, which leads to the destruction of the biological life of the soil environment. Soil contamination with PD has a negative effect on plants, prevents water uptake from the ground and hinders root respiration [5–9].

The aim of the paper was to determine the respiratory activity of soils contaminated with diesel oil measured by carbon dioxide emission.

MATERIAL AND METHODS OF RESEARCH

The study was carried out in 2010. The experiment was conducted in pots with a capacity of 14 dm3 and a diameter of 30 cm made of plastic. Light soil from within the Kortowo Garden was selected for the tests and was polluted with an appropriate amount of Eurodiesel LOTOS diesel oil, used as diesel engine fuel, with the following parameters: – viscosity (min) at 40ºC – 2–4.5 mm2·s-1, (max) S content – 10 mg·kg-1, density (max) at 15ºC – 820–845 kg·m-3.

Seedlings of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) were planted out on the polluted soils in 5 plants per pot. The plants originated from the Olsztyn Regional State Forest Directorate, from the Forest Nursery of the Wichrowo Forest Inspectorate. These were 1-year-old seedlings with a covered root system (seedlings with a root ball).

The experiment covered the following objects, with different soil pollution levels:

The following diesel oil doses were applied:

0.
 0% diesel oil
(control sample)
0 cm3
I.
 0.3% diesel oil
3g·kg-1 soil DM
43 cm3
II.
 0.6% diesel oil
6g·kg-1 soil DM
86 cm3
III.
 1.2% diesel oil
12g·kg-1 soil DM
172 cm3
IV.
 2.4% diesel oil
24g·kg-1 soil DM
344 cm3

Carbon dioxide emissions from the tested soil were determined by the Isermeyer method [10]. The principle of the Isermeyer method consists in estimation of CO2 emission after soil incubation in a closed system [11–12]. The exact methodology for determination of carbon dioxide release was described by Rogalski et al. [13].

Carbon dioxide emission was determined at three temperatures: 10°C, 15°C and 20°C, at a relative soil humidity of 60%. The samples were incubated for 3 days and CO2 emission was measured every 24 h.

The following analyses were performed on the soil used in the experiment, not contaminated with the petroleum derivative: hydrolytic acidity, the pH in H2O and in KCl, C, N, Mg, K, Na, Ca, P, K.

The results obtained from the tests were analysed by ANOVA (F-test) for factorial designs. Significant differences were determined by Duncan’s test at the significance level of P = 0.01. The results of the post-hoc tests were expressed in the form of homogeneous groups, which were named with the respective letters in the provided result tables. The relationships between the factors were determined using a simple Pearson’s correlation. The STATISTICA 10.0 PL software (StatSoft Inc. 2010) was applied in the preparation of statistical analyses. Before conducting statistical analyses, the Shapiro-Wilk test tested the normality of the attribute distribution within each independent group and additionally verified it with the residual normality analysis. Levene's test confirmed the assumption of homogeneity of variance.

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

The soil used in the experiment, with granulometric composition of clay sand, was characterized by: a pH in H2O of 7.72 and a pH in KCl of 7.11. Hydrolytic acidity was at 0.76 me∙g-1 and the content of total forms of Ca, Mg, K, Na was 4368.7, 64.39, 160.3 and 16.09 mg∙kg-1, respectively.

Respiratory activity measured by carbon dioxide emission
The conducted analysis of variance showed a statistically significant effect of all the analysed factors and their interactions on carbon dioxide emission for the objects with Scots pine and without seedlings. CO2 emission from the objects with beech was significantly influenced by the temperature and day of measurement, the diesel oil dose and the interactions between these factors, except for the relationship between the day of measurement and diesel oil dose (Tab. 1).

Table 1. Analysis of variance (F test) of CO2 emission
Factors and interactions
Objects without seedlings
Objects with European beech seedlings
Objects with Scots pine grew seedlings
F
p
F
p
F
p
T
159.70**
<0.001
219.40**
<0.001
50.38**
<0.001
O
98.17**
<0.001
119.51**
<0.001
21.06**
<0.001
D
230.17**
<0.001
177.52**
<0.001
142.98**
<0.001
TxO
4.54**
<0.001
18.98**
<0.001
27.02**
<0.001
TxD
15.00**
<0.001
4.47**
0.002
13.10**
<0.001
DxO
2.36*
0.024
2.03ns
0.052
14.07**
<0.001
TxDxO
1.78*
0.047
3.19**
<0.001
6.99**
<0.001
T – temperature, O – diesel oil dose, D – day of measurement, TxO, TxD, DxO, TxDxO – interactions between the factors
* significant at P< 0.05; ** significant at P<0.01; ns – not significant

Tables 2 to 4 present the results of carbon dioxide release from soils at temperatures of 10°C, 15°C and 20°C for individual experimental objects.

Table 2. Carbon dioxide emission [mg·kg-1 DM·d-1] from soils contaminated with different diesel oil doses, at the soil moisture content of 60%, measured at the temperatures of 10°C, 15°C and 20°C, objects with European beech seedlings
Object
Temperature [°C]
Means for objects
10
15
20
0
123.1
b
149.6
 cde
146.8
bcd
139.8  AB
I
79.3
a
150.9
cde
166.0
def
132.1  A
II
93.5
a
174.2
ef
178.5
f
148.7  B
III
136.2
bc
180.8
f
207.0
g
174.7  C
IV
160.0
def
218.4
g
324.5
h
234.3  D
Means for temperature
118.4
X
174.8
Y
204.6
Z
 
Differences between the values designated by different letters are statistically significant at the level of P<0.01; (a, b, c,….) for comparison of the interaction between the diesel oil dose and the temperature of measurement; (A, B, C, …) for comparison of the effect of the diesel oil dose on CO2 emission; (X, Y, Z) for comparison of the effect of temperature on CO2 emission; these values belong to different homogeneous groups (on the basis of post-hoc tests).

Table 3. Carbon dioxide emission [mg·kg-1 DM·d-1] from soils contaminated with different diesel oil doses, at the soil moisture content of 60%, measured at the temperatures of 10°C, 15°C and 20°C, objects with Scots pine grew seedlings
Object
Temperature [°C]
Means for objects
10
15
20
0
204.0
c
255.4
e
253.6
de
237.7
C
I
224.5
cd
221.7
de
255.6
cd
233.9
C
II
181.5
bc
185.4
bc
195.7
c
187.5
AB
III
144.3
a
204.5
c
193.6
c
180.8
A
IV
152.1
ab
139.4
a
328.4
f
206.6
B
Means for temperature
181.3
X
201.3
Y
245.4
Z
Explanations as in Table 2

Table 4. Carbon dioxide emission [mg·kg-1 DM·d-1] from soils contaminated with different diesel oil doses, at the soil moisture content of 60%, measured at the temperatures of 10°C, 15°C and 20°C, objects without seedlings
Object
Temperature [°C]
Means for objects
10
15
20
0
65.0
def
83.9
h
104.2
i
84.4
D
I
62.7
cde
75.2
fgh
101.2
i
79.7
D
II
53.5
bc
63.7
cde
81.3
gh
66.2
C
III
42.6
a
55.6
cd
72.1
efg
56.8
B
IV
44.4
ab
44.1
ab
56.8
cd
48.4
A
Means for temperature
53.6
X
64.5
Y
83.1
Z
Explanations as in Table 2

Analysing the objects with beech seedlings, it can be concluded that carbon dioxide release increased with a rise in the temperature of measurement. The highest CO2 emission was recorded at the temperature of 20°C – on average for all measurements – 204.6 mg·kg-1 soil DM and the lowest at the temperature of 10°C – 118.4 mg·kg-1 soil DM. These results agree with the results obtained by Bęś [14] and Bęś and Rogalski [15]. Examining the soils polluted with different diesel oil doses, the highest carbon dioxide emission was found in the objects with the highest pollution with diesel oil – 24g·kg-1 soil DM (object IV) and the lowest was found in the soil polluted with the lowest oil dose – 3g·kg-1 soil DM (on average for all the objects) (Tab. 2). Analysing the results obtained, it can be concluded that in the case of beech seedlings, carbon dioxide emissions increased with an increase in the dose of diesel oil.

In the case of beech seedlings the relationship between the diesel oil dose and the temperature of conducted measurements was statistically significant. The lowest CO2 emission was found in objects I and II: 79.3 and 93.5 mg·kg-1 soil DM, respectively (measurement at the temperature of 10°C) and the highest was in the object IV – 324.5 mg·kg-1 soil DM (measurement at the temperature of 20°C). The other results were at different statistical levels (Tab. 2).

According to the analysis of variance, the interaction between the dose of diesel oil and the temperature of conducted measurements influenced the carbon dioxide emission from soils with pine seedlings. For the objects with beech, CO2 emission was highest at the temperature of 20°C – 245.4 mg·kg-1 soil DM (on average for all measurements) and lowest at the temperature of 10°C – 181.3 mg·kg-1 soil DM (on average for all measurements). The lowest CO2 emission was found for object IV at the temperature of 15°C and object III at the temperature of 10°C and the highest was in object IV at the temperature of 20°C – 328.4 mg·kg-1 soil DM (Tab. 3).

Examining the mean carbon dioxide emission from individual objects of the experiment with pine, it was observed that the highest respiratory activity was found in the soils not polluted with oil (the control object – 0) and the soils with the lowest pollution level – object I, 237.7 and 233.9 mg·kg-1 soil DM, respectively and the lowest was in the objects with higher pollution. An inverse relationship, as mentioned above, was recorded for the objects with beech.

Carbon dioxide emissions from contaminated soils, without seedlings, were lower compared to contaminated soils, where the plants of deciduous and coniferous trees were growing. The respiratory activity of soils without vegetation decreased as the level of diesel contamination increased. The effect of temperature on carbon dioxide emissions was significant. Carbon dioxide emissions increased with the increase in temperature and were highest for soils incubated at 20°C (Tab. 4).

Emissions of carbon dioxide from contaminated soil, without seedlings, were similar to those of soils on which coniferous plants were growing, with the increase in diesel contamination, the emission of carbon dioxide emissions decreased significantly from 84.4 to 48.4 mg·kg-1 soil DM (Tab. 4).

Carbon dioxide emission changed with the passage of the time of measurement in each of the examined cases. This process was most intense during the first day of measurement and the carbon dioxide release decreased over time, which agrees with the research by Gong et al. [16] and Nogueirol et al. [17].

Correlation analysis
A simple Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a statistically significant correlation between carbon dioxide emission and the species of the used plant, the temperature and the day of measurement. CO2 emission was not correlated with the diesel oil dose. Following Stanisz [18], there was a poor correlation (r = 0.28) between the type of plant used (European beech or Scots pine seedlings) and CO2 emission. The effect of the temperature and day of measurement proved average (r = 0.39 and r = -0.47).

CONCLUSIONS

  1. An analysis of variance showed that the respiratory activity of the soils polluted with diesel oil both in the objects with beech and pine seedlings was influenced significantly by the temperature, day of measurement, the diesel oil dose and the interaction between these factors.
  2. CO2 emission in all the tested objects was highest after the first day of measurement and decreased in subsequent days, regardless of the type of plant.
  3. The soils contaminated with diesel oil on which pine grew were characterized by higher respiratory activity than the soils with beech seedlings.
  4. Carbon dioxide release from soil (on average after 3d) in the objects with beech when the temperature was raised by 5°C increased by 60%. CO2 emission increased by 128% after the temperature was raised by 10°C.
  5. Carbon dioxide emission in the objects with pine seedlings increased by 38% when the temperature was raised by 5°C and by 81% when the measurement temperature was increased by 10°C.
  6. The results of a simple Pearson’s correlation showed the significant effect of the temperature and day of measurement on carbon dioxide emission

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Accepted for print: 28.12.2017


Agnieszka Bęś
Research Group of Environmental Toxicology, Department of Chemistry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland
ul. Prawocheńskiego 17
10-721 Olsztyn
Poland
email: agnieszka.bes@uwm.edu.pl

Kazimierz Warmiński
Research Group of Environmental Toxicology, Department of Chemistry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland
ul. Prawocheńskiego 17
10-721 Olsztyn
Poland

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