The lead uptake by perennial ryegrass and radishes from air, water and soil

Abstract Grass and radishes were grown in a specially constructed growth chamber with either normal or filtered air, while either distilled or lead-containing water was applied either to the leaves or to the soil surface. The experimental design was randomized complete block with factorial arrangement of treatments while the results were analyzed by the associated analysis of variance technique. The lead content of grass grown in filtered air was 2.5 μg/g while that grown in unfiltered air was 5.2 μg/g. These values are different at the 1% level of significance. The uptake of lead from the water applied either to the foliar parts or to the soil surface was not significant at the 5% level. The lead concentration of either radish leaves or edible parts did not differ greatly for any treatment at the 5% level, and was the same as for grass grown in filtered air. These measurements indicate that half of the lead content of grass and nearly all of that in radishes was obtained from the soil with little adsorption from simulated rainfall.