© by PSP Volume 23 – No 12a. 2014 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin 3140 EFFECT OF ZEOLITE AND HALLOYSITE ON ACCUMULATION OF TRACE ELEMENTS IN MAIZE (Zea Mays L.) IN NICKEL CONTAMINATED SOIL Maja Radziemska 1 , Zbigniew Mazur 2 , Joanna Fronczyk 1 , and Jerzy Jeznach 1, * 1 Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-773 Warsaw, Poland 2 University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland, Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, Pl. Łódzki 4, 10-727, Olsztyn, Poland Presented at the 17 th International Symposium on Environmental Pollution and its Impact on Life in the Mediterranean Region (MESAEP), September28 - October 01, 2013, Istanbul, Turkey ABSTRACT Plants grown in contaminated areas may accumulate toxic levels of trace elements in their biomass. A pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of increas- ing nickel contamination on the accumulation of selected trace elements in maize (Zea mays L.) after the applica- tion of zeolite, raw and modified halloysite. In a vegeta- tive-pot experiment, five different level of Ni contamina- tion, i.e., 0 (control), 80, 160, 240, 320 mg·kg –1 were ap- plied in an analytical grade NiSO 4 . 7H 2 O solution mixed thoroughly with the soil. The content of nickel, lead, zinc, chromium, copper and manganese in maize depended on the dose of nickel and type of neutralizing substance. The average accumulation of trace elements in maize grown in nickel contaminated soil were found to follow the decreas- ing order nickel>zinc>manganese>copper>lead>chromium, respectively. The highest reduction in nickel content was observed in the above-ground parts of maize at sites where 240 mg of Ni was used per 1 kg of soil following the addition of zeolite and modified halloysite. The high- est increase in chromium content was observed in the above-ground parts of maize after row halloysite was applied. KEYWORDS: zeolite, halloysite, heavy metals, soil contamina- tion, maize (Zea mays L.) 1. INTRODUCTION The progressive degradation of soils with heavy met- als is becoming one of the most severe environmental and * Corresponding author human health hazards. Moreover, people are especially at risk, as contaminants present throughout the environment accumulate in the human body. In small concentrations, nickel is essential in facilitating the metabolism of calci- um, zinc, iron, and hematopoiesis processes in the human body [1]. It is one of the most mobile and bioavailable heavy metal ions that may be present in soils. The forms of Ni in soil containing minerals are pentlandite ((Fe, Ni) 9 S 8 ), cohenite ((Fe,Ni) 3 C), awaruite (Ni 3 Fe) and haxo- nite ((Fe,Ni) 23 C 6 ). Phytotoxicity caused by the contamina- tion of the environment with nickel has recently received increasing attention. The contamination of the environ- ment with nickel compounds, modifies not only the phys- icochemical properties of soil, but also negatively affects plants [2, 3]. The application of low cost, easily available materials in the removal of heavy metals from polluted soils has been widely investigated. Zeolite is known to be a good adsorbent for heavy metals, such as chromium, lead, cadmium, copper, zinc and nickel [4, 5, 6]. The structures of zeolites consist of three-dimensional frameworks of SiO 4 and AlO 4 tetrahedra. Halloysite is a two-layered aluminosilicate clay mineral with a natural nanotubular structure, consisting of one alumina octahedron sheet and one silica tetrahedron sheet in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio. Each of these two layers is separated by a monolayer of interlayer water molecules [7]. It is chemically similar to kaolin, differing mainly in the morphology of crystals. This mineral is abundant in Poland as well as other areas of the world. Halloysite has a large range of applications in many fields, and is mainly used to produce high quality porcelain products as an additive to polymer filters and in plastics and other comparable composites. The aim of the conducted research was to determine the effect of soil contamination with nickel on the content of microelement in the above-ground parts of maize (Zea mays L.) and to examine whether the applied neutralizing substances (zeolite, raw and modified halloysite) can be effective in reducing their impact on crops.