Search

Pesticides in soils raise concerns about the biodiversity, food safety, and contamination of watercourses, contributing to unsustainable land management practices. Monitoring the residue levels in agricultural soils is essential, as this offers valuable insights into the current extent of soil contamination and potential environmental risks attributed to their application. This study aimed to address the occurrence of the currently used herbicides in soil under intensive crop production, comparing the results of monitoring at two depths (0–30 and 30–60 cm) in 2013 and 2023. The research concerned the main agricultural area in Vojvodina Province (Serbia) and evaluated the presence of 41 herbicides in 128 localities. Pesticides were found in all samples, finding even more than six different herbicides per sample. The significant concentrations of s-metolachlor, etofumesate, clomazone, diflufenican, pendimethalin, and terbuthylazine found can be attributed to application practices, as they are typically applied pre-emergence, either through direct soil treatment with or without incorporation. Moreover, the correlation between different depths, herbicide residues, and soil properties was not significant. The decrease in the herbicide residues found in 2023 compared to the residues found in 2013 can be attributed to the implementation of good agricultural practices, which promote sustainable agricultural strategies through controlled pesticide application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics have reached all corners of our planet, including soil and water. Plastic-degrading bacteria are seen as a promising, environmentally friendly tool for the bioremediation of soil polluted with microplastics. The petroleum origin of plastics makes them candidates for bioremediation analogous to the bioremediation of soil polluted with oil and its derivatives. A mud pit, located near the village of Turija, used for mud formation for the lubrication of drill pipes for drilling rigs, ended up polluted with oil and its derivatives. It was bioremediated using the in situ procedure. The content of n-hexane extractable substance, total petroleum hydrocarbon, dry substance, and loss on ignition were analyzed.

Overuse of fertilizers can have harmful effects on the environment. The Nitrates Directive aims to protect water quality by preventing nitrates from agricultural sources polluting ground and surface waters and by promoting the use of good farming practices. The paper is based on research about agricultural producers' awareness about the impact of fertilizers overuse on the environment. Data were collected by face to face interviews with farm owners on 39 farms in Serbia. Analysis of the collected data showed that all farmers use fertilizers. It is important to notice that 79.4% of farmers use chemical fertilizers more than recommended, and 87.1% use organic fertilizers more than recommended. Furthermore, 66.6% of farmers do not know specific harmful pollution effects of nitrates on soil and water. 71.7% of farmers have not heard about the Nitrates Directive. Therefore, it can be concluded that farmers are not sufficiently aware of fertilizers impact on the environment and it is necessary to provide education on this.

Purpose: To anticipate the impact of illegal landfills, development of new models should become a part of environmental risk management strategies. One of such approaches includes applications of the artificial neural network (ANN). The main objective of this study was to elucidate the impact of illegal landfilling on the surrounding soil environment and human health, as well as to establish an artificial neural network (ANN) models for predicting the hazards of illegal landfilling as an effective tool in decision-making and environmental risk management. Methods: The identification of heavy metals source in soil was performed by principal component analysis (PCA). To assess the sensitivity of the soil ecosystem to heavy metal concentrations, Soil Quality standards and quantitative indices were used. The possible health effects were valued using the average daily doses (ADDs), hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI), and carcinogenic risk (CR). ANN modeling was used for the prediction of heavy metal concentrations in the soil based on landfill size, municipality size, the number of residents, plant species, soil, and landform types. Results: The average values of the pollution indexes for Cd were in the moderately contaminated and very high contamination categories. The HQ values were lower than the safe level. Cr and Pb posed a significant CR for adults and children, and Ni for children. The ANN models have exhibited good generalization power and accurately predicted the output parameters with a high value of the coefficient of determination. Conclusion: Concerning heavy metal concentrations, illegal landfills near agricultural soil have a significant impact on the soil ecosystem and people's health. The developed ANN models can be applied generally to anticipate the heavy metal concentrations in soil, according to the before mentioned input parameters, with high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Heavy metal concentrations in the soil near illegal landfills in the vicinity of agricultural areas—artificial neural network approach." The article was originally published without open access but has now been made open access. The copyright of the article has been changed to © The Author(s) 2023, and it is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Additionally, there was a correction to the spelling of the 5th author's name, which should be Ljiljana Ćurčić. The original article has been corrected. [Extracted from the article]

Based on their adverse impact on the environment and human health, landfills represent one of the biggest environmental issues. In this study, the soil samples (two depths, 0–30 and 30–60 cm) from 6 illegal landfills located in the agricultural areas in the Autonomous Vojvodina (AP) Province in Serbia were investigated to assess the bioaccessibility of potentially toxic elements (PTEs: As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and health risk for field workers. All PTEs, except Pb, in some of the studied soils exceeded the threshold value (TV) prescribed by the national regulation. To assess their bioaccessibility, in vitro gastrointestinal test, the Unified BARGE Method (UBM), was used. The UBM test simulates the three phases of the gastrointestinal tract: saliva (S), gastric (GE), and intestinal (IE) by the appropriate fluids. For most of the analyzed PTEs, higher concentrations were extracted in the gastric (GE) phase due to the acidity of the fluid. The bioaccessibility of the investigated PTEs does not exceed 50%, and the highest bioaccessibility from the soil was observed for Cu (40.54%). The workers' health risk assessment (WHRA) indicated no high risk (HI < 1) for developing non-carcinogenic illness for workers in agricultural fields, while there was moderate carcinogenic risk based on both pseudo-total (R = 2.60 × 10−5) and bioaccessible (R = 1.58 × 10−6) concentrations. The highest influence on the workers' health has oral exposure to the soil (HI o : 8.82 × 10−2 > HI d : 9.24 × 10−3 > HI i : 1.09 × 10−3; R o : 1.89 × 10−5 > R d : 6.97 × 10−6 > R i : 3.86 × 10−8). Utilizing Both scenarios, the worst-case scenario and the "more realistic" based on bioaccessible concentrations, showed that exposure of the field workers to these soil samples has adverse effects on their health. [Display omitted] • Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) were investigated in illegal landfills' soil. • Bioaccessibility of the PTEs was assessed by using in vitro UBM test. • The highest bioaccessibility was observed for Cu at 40.54%, in the gastric phase. • Increased carcinogenic risk for field workers near illegal landfills was observed. • Based on the oral bioaccessible PTE concentrations, there is an increased risk for field workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]