Abstract
Ge and Si differ strongly in their biogeochemical behavior due to the differences in binding capacity to organic matter. The mechanisms of soil organic matter affecting the mobility and bioavailability of Ge in soil-plant system remain unclear. This work aimed to investigate the soil Ge fractions and Ge binding to humic substances in paddy soil. Paddy soil samples taken from Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, China, were investigated by the sequential extraction method. Humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) isolated from paddy soils were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) and 3-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (3D-EEM). The effect of humic substances on the binding of Ge was studied by fluorescence-quenching titration. Results showed that residual Ge was the dominant fraction in soil (up to 85%). The mobile Ge, organic matter bound Ge and easily reduceable compounds bound Ge accounted for approximately 10% of soil TGe and may represented critical labile pools of soil Ge. Organic matter bound Ge significantly correlated (r = 0.56, p < 0.01) with rice Ge concentrations. The fluorescence of HA and FA was markedly quenched by the addition of Ge. The conditional stability constant of HA-Ge complexes was larger than that of FA-Ge complexes, and the complexation capacity of HA-Ge complexes was lower than that of FA-Ge complexes. Humic substances played a dual role in affecting the behavior of dissolved Ge in paddy soil. HA formed stable complexes with Ge and tended to sequester Ge, while FA formed soluble and unstable complexes with Ge and tended to act as a Ge carrier in soil-plant system.
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The authors are thankful to the constructive comments and suggestions of three anonymous reviewers and journal editors for editorial handing.
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This work was financially supported by the Ecological Geochemistry of Germanium in Soil in Zhejiang Province (2018004) and the Research Program of the China Geological Survey (No. DD20190475).
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Bolun Fan: conceptualization, methodology, software, writing-original draft. Molan Tang: writing—review and editing. Lingyang Yao: formal analysis, investigation. Aobo Zhang: validation, investigation. Hanqin Yin: funding acquisition. Weilin Yang: investigation, methodology. Zhenzhen Ma: investigation. Wu Xiang: methodology, writing—review and editing. Zhengyu Bao: supervision.
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Highlights
(1) Approximately 10% of total soil germanium exists in labile pools that is potentially available for plants.
(2) Organic matter-bound Ge may increase the transfer of Ge from soil to plants.
(3) In soil-plant system, humic acids sequester Ge, while fulvic acids act as carrier of Ge.
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Fan, B., Tang, M., Yao, L. et al. Germanium fractions in typical paddy soil and its interaction with humic substances. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 9670–9681 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11482-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11482-9