How sulfate content and soil depth affect the adsorption/desorption of selenate and selenite in tropical soils?

Sorption of selenate (SeO42-) and selenite (SeO32-) is poorly understood in Brazilian agroecosystems, especially in soils from agricultural areas containing different contents of competing anions, such as sulfate (SO42-). This study aimed to assess the sorption behavior of selenate and selenite at different soil layers of a tropical soil treated with different rates of agricultural gypsum (thus, containing different contents of sulfate), collected under a coffee plantation. Soil samples from an experimental area where phosphogypsum has been previously applied at different rates (0, 7, 14, and 56 t ha(-1)) were taken at the following soil layers: 0.15-0.25, 0.35-0.45, and 1.25-1.35 m. Adsorption experiments were carried out adding 20 mL of solutions containing 100 and 500 mu gL(-)(1)of selenate and 10 and 15 mg L-1 of selenite to 2 grams of soil. Desorption experiments were also performed using a soil:solution ratio of 1:10. Adsorption of selenate increased with soil depth and decreased upon increasing sulfate contents in the soil, by contrast, selenite was consistently adsorbed at higher contents - when compared with selenate - at any soil depth and its sorptive behavior was not affected by the presence of sulfate. Furthermore, selenite was less desorbed than selenate under all conditions. In conclusion, selenite is much more retained in tropical soils and less available to plants than selenate. Also, although sulfate has shown to be able to hinder selenate retention, it has no substantial effect on the sorption behavior of selenite in tropical agroecosystems.