JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE OF GAZI UNIVERSITY, cilt.31, sa.3, ss.590-597, 2016 (SCI-Expanded)
The major goal of this work is to determine the chemical fractionation of Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni in the soil amended with different doses of tannery sludge compost and investigate chemical distribution impact on the metals' transfer to grass at the end of the 45 days experimental period. The results show that % 5 and% 10 tannery sludge compost amendment enhances the plant growth at the rate of 29-32%. The transfer coefficients for the metals in the decreasing order are as follows: Zn>Cu>Ni>Cr. It is found that the chemical distribution of the metals is directly related to the metals' soil-plant transfer. Although total Cr concentrations in the mixtures are high, Cr is mainly found in the residual fraction which is the most stable form in the mixtures (47.24-76.09%). This explains the low transfer coefficients calculated for Cr. Zn is the most mobile metal which is highly found in the exchangable & acid soluble and reducible fractions (total 34.78-75.07%). Zn is easily released from soil and accumulate in the plant tissue resulting as the highest transfer coefficients. Cu and Ni are densely found in the organic fraction which is demineralised during the trials, confirming the transfer coefficients calculated for these metals.