Environmental impact assessment of vegetable fields by the heavy metal concentration in Yantai City of Shandong Province, China

Scientific basis was presented to fertility management of soils in the vegetable field, and concentrations of selected heavy metals in them were measured, followed by the environmental impact assessment, for keeping quality and sustainable development in the vegetable production. For this purpose, surface and subsurface soil samples were collected from vegetable field at nine different sites of the three regions of Taochun, Haogezhuang and Jiajiazhongchun in Yantai City, Shandong Province, China. The vegetable fields cultivated for 15 and 25 years showed a tendency of Cr accumulation and their total Cr concentrations were significantly higher at the 5% level than those of the vegetable fields cultivated for 7 years, although a possibility due to the regional difference remained. The total Cd concentration exceeded the soil environmental standard in all the fields with the simple pollution index of 9.90. The overall pollution index of the vegetable fields was 7.16, and they were designated as "severely polluted" in the classification of the soil pollution level. Measures for soil quality management and remediation of Cd pollution were proposed.