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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., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

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]

Mercury (Hg) and potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are components of household dust and are a risk for human health. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of Hg and PTEs in household dust in individual housing facilities in the town of Šid, Serbia and their correlation to the content of the elements found in the surrounding garden soil. Total of 64 samples of household dust were collected from 16 locations of individual housing facilities on 4 occasions. Samples of surrounding yard and garden soil were simultaneously collected. None of the 64 analysed soil samples exceeded the threshold limit (TL) prescribed by law for non-agricultural soil, which is 0.3 mg kg-1 DM. Content of Hg in household dust was much higher than in the surrounding soil and ranged from 0.005 to 1.566 mg kg-1 DM. The resulting values of PTEs (As, B, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in household dust had a significantly higher range than in the soil. Contents of Hg, B, Cu, and Zn were much higher in household dust than in the soil. According to the results of correlations of the analysed elements in household dust and surrounding soil, and according to the analysed locations, direct effect of Hg and PTEs contents on the content of the same elements in household dust was not confirmed.

The main objective of this study is to determine the possibility of predicting the impact of land use and soil type on concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) and phthalates (PAEs) in soil based on an artificial neural network model (ANN). Qualitative analysis of HMs was performed with inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP/OES) and Direct Mercury Analyzer. Determination of PAEs was performed with gas chromatography (GC) coupled with a single quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS). An ANN, based on the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) iterative algorithm, for the prediction of HM and PAE concentrations, based on land use and soil type parameters, showed good prediction capabilities (the coefficient of determination (r2) values during the training cycle for HM concentration variables were 0.895, 0.927, 0.885, 0.813, 0.883, 0.917, 0.931, and 0.883, respectively, and for PAEs, the concentration variables were 0.950, 0.974, 0.958, 0.974, and 0.943, respectively). The results of this study indicate that HM and PAE concentrations, based on land use and soil type, can be predicted using ANN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in soil samples from forty different locations in Vojvodina. The samples were Soxhlet extracted cleaned-up and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the selected ion monitoring mode (SIM). Each PAH was separately quantified using an eight-point calibration of mixed standard solutions in the range between 0.25 and 10 μg/cm3. The sum of the 16 US Environmental Protection Agency PAHs analyzed in the soil samples varied from 0.043 to 1.362 mg/kg of dry soil.

The paper deals with several groups of compounds that represent the most frequent pollutants of soil in the world. The paper also reviews results of long-term studies conducted at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad on the residues of pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the soil of the Vojvodina Province. The analyzed samples have been found to contain residues of persistent pesticides and their metabolites lindane and its metabolites 6,20 μg/kg, alachlor 3,56 μg/kg, aldrin 2,3 μg/kg, heptachlor epoxide 0,99 μg/kg, chlordane 3,82 μg/kg, DDT and its metabolites 10,77 μg/kg, dieldrin 2,04 μg/kg, endrin 3,57 μg/kg and endrin aldehyde 1,36 μg/kg. Soil samples from Novi Sad municipality contained 53,69 μg/kg of DDT and its metabolites. The values of atrazine ranged from 0,0005 to 0,8 mg/kg. The values of PAHs were 6,64 mg/kg in industrial soil, 4,93 mg/kg in agricultural soil, and 4,55 mg/kg and 5,48 mg/kg in the Novi Sad municipality. The lowest value, 0.83 mg/kg, was found for nonagricultural/nonindustrial soils.

The objective of this study was to check the fertility of soils in the region of Srem through the analysis of the main chemical soil properties. Locations for soil sampling have been determined by means of a 4x4 km grid super imposed over a soil map of the Vojvodina Province R 1:50,000. GPS coordinates were given for each sample site. The results of this study provide a solid basis for soil quality and environment status estimations. Compared against the previous round of studies (Hadžić et al., 1993), there occurred a moderate soil alkalization, except in forests typically established on the brown forest soil and pseudogley. Humus reduction was registered in most soil types except the alluvial and alluvial-diluvial soils and in forested areas. Total nitrogen varied in unison with humus content. Considering the mean values of available phosphorus and potassium for the entire region of Srem, decreasing trends were seen as compared with the previous round of studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zbornik Radova - A Periodical of Scientific Research on Field & Vegetable Crops is the property of Institute of Field & Vegetable Crops and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zbornik Radova - A Periodical of Scientific Research on Field & Vegetable Crops is the property of Institute of Field & Vegetable Crops and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)