A Study on Sugar Mill Pressmud Compost for Some Heavy Metal Content and their Bio-availability

In this study, the content of heavy metals (zinc, manganese, iron and aluminum) has been analysed, and their bioavailability was assessed using extraction method. The total heavy metal concentration was in order as: Fe>Al>Mn>Zn and the average concentration was 115 μg g-1, 288 μg g-1, 6169 μg g-1 and 2233 μg g-1 dry weight for Zn, Mn, Fe and Al, respectively. Watersoluble percentages of heavy metals are quite low (<0.01 – 0.79%), but the presence of chelating agents in the samples increase the bio-availability of heavy metals (22-89%). The most bioavailable heavy metals were Zn, Mn and Fe as their potential availability is high with 90%, 78% and 48%, respectively. The concentration of the heavy metals does not exceed the recommended reference values. Further, it is suggests that pressmud compost does not shows heavy metal pollution, besides a good source of soil elements and organic matter to the agricultural land.

Author(s): Bhupander Kumar1*, Sanjay Kumar, Dev Prakash, S. K. Singh, Meenu Mishra, P. K. Jain, R. B. Lal, C. S. Sharma and D. P. Mukherjee

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