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Agronomy
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Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil
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Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 3740

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Rongguang Shi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin 300191, China
Interests: environmental monitoring; assessment in agriculture and rural areas; pollution prevention and control technology
Dr. Tiantian Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin 300191, China
Interests: land use; ecosystem assessment; planning management; environmental monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Strengthening farmland protection is a crucial guarantee for food security, sustainable agricultural development, and the quality and safety of agricultural products. The spatial distribution of heavy metals in cultivated land varies greatly. Meanwhile, with the diversified development of the social economy, there is a lack of refined prevention and control technologies and supervision methods for heavy metal pollution in farmland in different regions. This Special Issue, in response to the important mission of farmland protection, solicits the latest research manuscripts related to the entire chain of farmland protection, Source tracing, soil environment monitoring, restoration, restoration effect assessment, and supervision technology methods.
   What kind of papers are we soliciting:

  • Monitoring and risk assessment of the farmland soil environment;
  • Source tracing, remediation technology, and a model of heavy metal pollution in farmland;
  • Evaluation of the effect of farmland restoration;
  • Intelligent and information-based supervision of farmland land protection and restoration;
  • Policies for the protection and restoration management of farmland land.

Prof. Dr. Rongguang Shi
Dr. Tiantian Ma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • farmland protection
  • environmental monitoring
  • risk assessment restoration and governance
  • regulatory techniques and policies

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1706 KB  
Article
Comparisons of Soil C–N Pools and Microbial Communities Among Saline–Alkali, Straw-Returning, and Conventional Farmlands in the Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation District, China
by Huirong Zhang, Tianyi Chen, Chuhan Yang, Xuantong Zheng, Man Wang, Taotao Zhan, Xuxin Ding, Ping Wang, Qingqian Yao, Fang Wang and Jinpeng Liu
Agronomy 2026, 16(8), 833; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16080833 - 20 Apr 2026
Viewed by 386
Abstract
The Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation District in China has long been influenced by flood irrigation and intensive fertilizer input under its particular geological and climatic constraints, and this region is characterized by low soil organic matter, poor nutrient status, low permeability, high pH, [...] Read more.
The Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation District in China has long been influenced by flood irrigation and intensive fertilizer input under its particular geological and climatic constraints, and this region is characterized by low soil organic matter, poor nutrient status, low permeability, high pH, and widespread salinization. This cross-sectional field study compared the soil physicochemical properties and microbial communities among saline–alkali soil (SAS), straw-returning farmland (SR), and traditionally managed farmland (FM). EC was higher in SAS (approximately 4.21 dS·m−1) than in SR and FM (approximately 0.23 and 0.30 dS·m−1, respectively), whereas TOC and C/N were higher in SR (approximately 1.00% and 10.58, respectively) than in FM (approximately 0.78% and 8.69) and SAS (approximately 0.43% and 8.81). Bacterial and fungal communities showed different distribution patterns among the three farmland types. Compared with fungi, bacterial community structure and richness varied more clearly across soils differing in salinity and organic matter status. Variations in microbial community composition were accompanied by differences in soil salinity and carbon- and nitrogen-related properties. Acidobacteriota was positively correlated with soil carbon and nitrogen variables and negatively correlated with pH and EC, while Ascomycota was positively correlated with total carbon (TC) and TOC. These results show that straw-returning farmland differed from saline–alkali soil and traditionally managed farmland in both soil properties and microbial community characteristics, highlighting potential soil–microbe associations in saline-affected agricultural systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil)
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22 pages, 4604 KB  
Article
Physiological and Rhizosphere Microbial Community Responses of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) to Antimony Stress: Implications for Phytoremediation and Seed Safety
by Juan Wan, Wenqian Li, Jingyi Guo, Mingyu Zhou, Yu Zhang, Huayi Chen, Jing Bai and Yu Zheng
Agronomy 2026, 16(4), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16040481 - 20 Feb 2026
Viewed by 586
Abstract
Antimony (Sb) contamination in agricultural soils threatens the safety of rapeseed production, yet the mechanisms driving cultivar differences in seed Sb accumulation remain unclear. A pot experiment was conducted with two Sb-tolerant cultivars showing contrasting accumulation patterns, Nanyouza 1 (high-accumulating) and Fengyou 958 [...] Read more.
Antimony (Sb) contamination in agricultural soils threatens the safety of rapeseed production, yet the mechanisms driving cultivar differences in seed Sb accumulation remain unclear. A pot experiment was conducted with two Sb-tolerant cultivars showing contrasting accumulation patterns, Nanyouza 1 (high-accumulating) and Fengyou 958 (low-accumulating), grown under increasing Sb levels. (1) Sb stress inhibited growth and reduced photosynthetic performance in both cultivars; antioxidant enzymes showed a “low stimulation–high inhibition” response and MDA increased under high Sb, indicating aggravated oxidative damage beyond the tolerance threshold. (2) Nanyouza 1 accumulated more Sb in vegetative tissues and exhibited stronger root-to-shoot translocation than Fengyou 958, whereas seed Sb remained relatively low in both cultivars and bioconcentration/translocation efficiencies declined with increasing Sb. (3) At maturity, rhizosphere bacterial communities shifted along the Sb gradient, and taxa associated with Sb differed, with Ramlibacter and Bacillus positively correlated. These findings provide mechanistic insights supporting the integration of cultivar selection and rhizosphere regulation to achieve both safe production and phytoremediation in Sb-contaminated farmland. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil)
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22 pages, 20345 KB  
Article
Scenario Analysis of Heavy Metal Ecological Risk in Cropland Soils from Livestock and Poultry Manure Application: A Case Study of Hunan Province, China
by Xia Li, Liying Yang, Jingxian Qi, Jingwen Xu, Xiaoyan Zhang, Jiamin Zhao, Zhicheng Shen and Huading Shi
Agronomy 2025, 15(12), 2841; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15122841 - 11 Dec 2025
Viewed by 975
Abstract
Heavy metals in livestock and poultry manure cause significant contamination; however, there is currently a lack of scenario analysis research on soil pollution risks under the influence of manure application. This study integrated multiple methods, including multi-source data fusion, heavy metal emission accounting, [...] Read more.
Heavy metals in livestock and poultry manure cause significant contamination; however, there is currently a lack of scenario analysis research on soil pollution risks under the influence of manure application. This study integrated multiple methods, including multi-source data fusion, heavy metal emission accounting, and ecological risk assessment, to investigate regional soil heavy metal pollution risks under baseline and improved scenarios of manure application, using Hunan Province, China, as a case study. The results indicate that pig manure (49.5%) and cattle manure (47.6%) are the primary sources of heavy metal emissions from livestock and poultry manure. The heavy metal loads on cropland (g/ha) were as follows: Cd (0.51), Hg (0.027), As (0.87), Pb (4.69), Cr (5.38), Cu (93.10), Zn (131.05), and Ni (5.07). Among the eight heavy metals, Cd poses the most prominent soil pollution risk. Under the baseline scenario (100% manure application), the study area exhibited an overall moderate ecological hazard level after 37 years of continuous application, with 71.93% of the cropland classified as Risk Level II and 7.04% as Risk Level III. After 184 years, a strong ecological hazard level was reached, with 54.93% of the cropland classified as Risk Level III and 19.64% as Risk Level IV. Under improved scenarios (75%, 50%, and 25% manure application), the overall moderate ecological hazard level was reached after 49, 74, and 147 years of continuous application, respectively. This study provides a theoretical and methodological basis for regional soil heavy metal pollution control and source analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil)
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19 pages, 4271 KB  
Article
Spatial Distribution and Pollution Source Analysis of Heavy Metals in Cultivated Soil in Ningxia
by Xiang Yue, Rongguang Shi, Jianjun Ma, Hong Li, Tiantian Ma, Junhua Ma, Xiangyu Liang and Cheng Ma
Agronomy 2025, 15(11), 2543; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15112543 - 31 Oct 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1191
Abstract
This study collected 820 topsoil samples from cultivated lands across Ningxia, covering the Yellow River irrigation area, the central arid zone, and the southern mountainous region. The ordinary kriging were spatially interpolated to analyze As, Hg, Cd, Cr, and Pb heavy-metal pollution spatial [...] Read more.
This study collected 820 topsoil samples from cultivated lands across Ningxia, covering the Yellow River irrigation area, the central arid zone, and the southern mountainous region. The ordinary kriging were spatially interpolated to analyze As, Hg, Cd, Cr, and Pb heavy-metal pollution spatial patterns. Pollution was evaluated using the Nemerow and geoaccumulation (I(geo)) indices, and sources quantified via Pearson correlations, PCA (Principal Component Analysis), and PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization). The results indicated that Hg and Cd posed the highest ecological risks. The overall mean concentrations (mg.kg−1) of Hg, Cd, As, Pb, and Cr were 0.04, 0.27, 9.91,23.81, and 57.34, respectively. Compared with the background values, they were 1.90, 2.41, 0.83, 1.14, 2.74 times higher, respectively. Geospatially, regions with higher pollution probabilities for Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, and As were concentrated in the northern and central parts of Ningxia, whereas the southern region exhibited lower pollution probabilities. pH significantly influenced the accumulation and spatial distribution of heavy metals in soil. Source apportionment identified three primary contributors: transportation and natural parent materials (As, Pb, Cr), industrial activities (Hg), and agricultural practices (Cd). Hg and Cd were identified as the key risk elements requiring prioritized management. These results enhance understanding of the pollution levers of heavy metals in Ningxia cultivated soils, and also provide foundation for developing more scientific and precise soil risk control policies, offering significant practical value for environmental risk management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil)
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