Contamination of soil and water with arsenic, which is a toxic and carcinogenic metalloid, canincrease the danger of its entrance into the food chain.Material and Methods:In order to improve the efficacy of natural zeoilte for adsorption and stabilization of arsenic in
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Contamination of soil and water with arsenic, which is a toxic and carcinogenic metalloid, canincrease the danger of its entrance into the food chain.Material and Methods:In order to improve the efficacy of natural zeoilte for adsorption and stabilization of arsenic in soil, anIranian zeoilte of clinoptilolite type was modified by iron, manganese and aluminum, and used in aseries of chemical extraction tests by DTPA as well as greenhouse experiments using barley as a testcrop. Moreover, the biological effects of amending these soil modifiers were evaluated throughmeasuring soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase activity. The experiment carried out in a completelyrandomized design with Factorial arrangement including 5 types of zeolite (modified with iron,manganese, aluminum, iron+ manganese and iron+ aluminum) and two levels (2% and 5%) of eachamendment.Results and discussion:The results of this study revealed that the applied amendments could increase the produced biomassand decrease both arsenic concentration in barely and arsenic extracted by DTPA. Also, furtherincorporation of amendments increased the activity of dehydrogenase, as a soil health index.However, the iron- and aluminum-modified zeolite was the only amendment which meaningfullyincreased the phosphatase activity. The reslts indicated that the iron-, manganese- and aluminummodifiedzeolite can be considered as a good alternative, low cost and environmental friendlyamendment for immobilization of arsenic in contaminated soils, and can mitigate the risk associatedwith arsenic entrance into the food chain.
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