ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.

Sec. Soil Processes

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1628175

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Soil Pollution Research: Risk Assessment and Ecosystems ManagementView all 11 articles

Effect of sewage sludge and digestate from anaerobic fermentation on the accumulation of cadmium (Cd), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), and rare earth elements (REEs) in soil and uptake by plants with different nutrition strategies

Provisionally accepted
Nazia ZaffarNazia Zaffar1*Viktoriia LovynskaViktoriia Lovynska2Alla SamarskaAlla Samarska3Tobias ArnstadtTobias Arnstadt4Olivier PourretOlivier Pourret5Stéphane FirminStéphane Firmin6Petr BarošPetr Baroš7Eliška Lyko VachkováEliška Lyko Vachková7Martin PalusakMartin Palusak8Stanisław WacławekStanisław Wacławek9Edgar PeiterEdgar Peiter10Oliver Matthias WicheOliver Matthias Wiche11,6
  • 1Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Freiberg, Germany
  • 2Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
  • 3Laboratory of Forestry, Dnipro State Agrarian and Economic University, Dnipro, Ukraine
  • 4Applied Geoecology Group, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz, Külzufer 2, 02763, Zittau, Germany
  • 5Institut Polytechnique UniLaSalle, AGHYLE, 19 rue Pierre Waguet, 60000 Beauvais, France, Beauvais, France
  • 6Institut Polytechnique UniLaSalle, AGHYLE, 19 rue Pierre Waguet, 60000, Beauvais, France
  • 7Department of Sustainable Fuels and Green Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Prague, Czechia
  • 8Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation, TUL, Studentská 1402/2, 460 01 Liberec 1,, Liberec, Czechia
  • 97Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation, TUL, Studentská 1402/2, 460 01 Liberec 1,, Liberec, Czechia
  • 10Plant Nutrition Laboratory, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences III, Martin Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg, 06099, Halle (Saale), Germany
  • 11Applied Geoecology Group, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz, Külzufer 2, 02763 Zittau, Zittau, Germany

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This study investigates how sewage sludge and liquid digestate, as biosolid amendments, affect the mobility of cadmium (Cd), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), and rare earth elements (REEs) in soil, as well as their uptake by plants with differing nutritional strategies. Four species Alyssum murale, Lupinus albus, Fagopyrum esculentum, and Carthamus tinctorius were cultivated on unamended soil or soil amended with either sewage sludge or digestate. Shoot uptake of the essential elements P, Fe, Mn, Ni and of non-essential elements was evaluated alongside changes in ammonium-acetateextractable (labile) element concentrations. For three species, root carboxylate exudation and rhizosphere acidification were also measured under variable phosphorus (P) supply conditions induced by the amendments. Both biosolids improved micronutrient availability across all species. However, increased shoot P concentrations were only observed in plants treated with sewage sludge.

Keywords: soil amendment, heavy metal, plant availability, Metalloids, phytoextraction In addition, P status-dependent plant shoots, understanding emerging soil pollutants such as Wenzel, 2009;

Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 26 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zaffar, Lovynska, Samarska, Arnstadt, Pourret, Firmin, Baroš, Vachková, Palusak, Wacławek, Peiter and Wiche. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Nazia Zaffar, Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Freiberg, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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