Vanadium bioavailability and toxicity to soil microorganisms and plants

Vanadium, V, is a redox-sensitive metal that in solution, under aerobic conditions, prevails as the oxyanion vanadate(V). There is little known regarding vanadium toxicity to soil biota, and the present study was set up to determine the toxicity of added vanadate to soil organisms and to investigate the relationship between toxicity and vanadium sorption in soils. Five soils with contrasting properties were spiked with 7 different doses (3.2-3200mgVkg(-1)) of dissolved vanadate, and toxicity was measured with 2 microbial and 3 plant assays. The median effective concentration (EC50) thresholds of the microbial assays ranged from 28mg added V kg(-1) to 690mg added V kg(-1), and the EC50s in the plant assays ranged from 18mg added V kg(-1) to 510mg added V kg(-1). The lower thresholds were in the concentration range of the background vanadium in the untreated control soils (15-58mgVkg(-1)). The vanadium toxicity to plants decreased with a stronger soil vanadium sorption strength. The EC50 values for plants expressed on a soil solution basis ranged from 0.8mgV L-1 to 15mgV L-1 and were less variable among soils than corresponding values based on total vanadium in soil. It is concluded that sorption decreases the toxicity of added vanadate and that soil solution vanadium is a more robust measure to determine critical vanadium concentrations across soils. Environ Toxicol Chem 2013;32:2266-2273. (c) 2013 SETAC