Zinc, copper and nickel concentrations in soil extracts and crops grown on four soils treated with metalloaded sewage sludges.

Sludges containing high concentrations of zinc, copper or nickel and an uncontaminated sludge were added to two sandy loams (pH 6.5 and 7.1), a heavy clay (pH 6.3) and a calcareous clay (pH 7.8) to give ten sludge treatments for each soil. The mixtures were incubated fallow, cropped continuously with clover, or cropped with barley and red beet in rotation for 21 months. The quantity of added metal either in the soil solution or extracted by 0.1m CaCl(2) depended on the metal loading, pH and soil cation exchange capacity, and changed with time after mixing soils and sludges. Crop metal concentrations, and the occurrence of metal-induced yield reductions, also depended on soil properties as well as metal loading. The best chemical extractant for predicting plant metal concentrations was 0.1m CaCl(2).