USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND

Concern about environmental pollution has grown in the last few decades, amongst both specialists in the field and society at large. This concern is reflected in thenumerous studies that have been published on this topic in recent years. Soil pollution has been somewhat neglected as a topic of study...

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Main Authors: Carmen Trasar Cepeda, Fernando Gil Sotres, Diana Bello
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2017-01-01
Series:EQA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eqa.unibo.it/article/view/6601
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author Carmen Trasar Cepeda
Fernando Gil Sotres
Diana Bello
author_facet Carmen Trasar Cepeda
Fernando Gil Sotres
Diana Bello
author_sort Carmen Trasar Cepeda
collection DOAJ
description Concern about environmental pollution has grown in the last few decades, amongst both specialists in the field and society at large. This concern is reflected in thenumerous studies that have been published on this topic in recent years. Soil pollution has been somewhat neglected as a topic of study, relative to air and waterpollution, which are considered harmful to human life. However, soil pollution is a particularly serious problem because of the impact on soil functioning and on theecosystem as a whole. Although natural processes such as volcanic activity and weathering of the parent material contribute to soil pollution, anthropogenicactivities represent the main cause of soil pollution. Apart from some accidental events, most pollution is generated by human activities such as industrialprocesses, transportation, construction, uncontrolled discharges, waste generation and agriculture. Agricultural land is particularly sensitive to pollution, partly because certain agricultural practices (soil preparation and tillage, soil fertilization, grazing, etc.) may affect basic soil properties, and partly because the soils usuallydisplay poor resilience. However, pollutants often reach already degraded agricultural soils and their impact will therefore be added to existing effects. Thepollutants most frequently encountered in the agricultural sector include heavy metals, petroleum derived products, persistent organic pollutants, pesticides and fertilizers. Soil enzymes such as oxidoreductases and hydrolases have been widelyused to investigate the impact of different pollutants on agricultural soils. However, the study findings are often inconclusive, because the impact of a given pollutanton the activity of different soil enzymes is influenced by various factors. In this report, we analyze the findings of different studies concerning pollution of agricultural soils.
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spelling doaj.art-39f48acce0e34de584a6286fb2830d4a2022-12-21T19:57:57ZengUniversity of BolognaEQA2039-98982281-44852017-01-01220152410.6092/issn.2281-4485/66015999USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDCarmen Trasar Cepeda0Fernando Gil Sotres1Diana Bello2Departamento de Bioquimica del Suelo, IIAG-CSIC, Santiago de CompostelaDepartamento de Edafologia y Quimica Agricola, Santiago de CompostelaDepartamento de Bioquimica del Suelo, IIAG-CSIC, Santiago de CompostelaConcern about environmental pollution has grown in the last few decades, amongst both specialists in the field and society at large. This concern is reflected in thenumerous studies that have been published on this topic in recent years. Soil pollution has been somewhat neglected as a topic of study, relative to air and waterpollution, which are considered harmful to human life. However, soil pollution is a particularly serious problem because of the impact on soil functioning and on theecosystem as a whole. Although natural processes such as volcanic activity and weathering of the parent material contribute to soil pollution, anthropogenicactivities represent the main cause of soil pollution. Apart from some accidental events, most pollution is generated by human activities such as industrialprocesses, transportation, construction, uncontrolled discharges, waste generation and agriculture. Agricultural land is particularly sensitive to pollution, partly because certain agricultural practices (soil preparation and tillage, soil fertilization, grazing, etc.) may affect basic soil properties, and partly because the soils usuallydisplay poor resilience. However, pollutants often reach already degraded agricultural soils and their impact will therefore be added to existing effects. Thepollutants most frequently encountered in the agricultural sector include heavy metals, petroleum derived products, persistent organic pollutants, pesticides and fertilizers. Soil enzymes such as oxidoreductases and hydrolases have been widelyused to investigate the impact of different pollutants on agricultural soils. However, the study findings are often inconclusive, because the impact of a given pollutanton the activity of different soil enzymes is influenced by various factors. In this report, we analyze the findings of different studies concerning pollution of agricultural soils.https://eqa.unibo.it/article/view/6601Agricultural soilssoil pollutionsoil degradationsoil quality index
spellingShingle Carmen Trasar Cepeda
Fernando Gil Sotres
Diana Bello
USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
EQA
Agricultural soils
soil pollution
soil degradation
soil quality index
title USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
title_full USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
title_fullStr USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
title_full_unstemmed USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
title_short USE OF ENZYME ACTIVITIES TO MONITOR POLLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
title_sort use of enzyme activities to monitor pollution of agricultural land
topic Agricultural soils
soil pollution
soil degradation
soil quality index
url https://eqa.unibo.it/article/view/6601
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AT fernandogilsotres useofenzymeactivitiestomonitorpollutionofagriculturalland
AT dianabello useofenzymeactivitiestomonitorpollutionofagriculturalland