Heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd) in the system soil – grapevine – grape

An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 79(15)1999, 2122. The investigation was carried out in the period 1991–1995 ina region with a major industrial pollutant, theNon‐Ferrous‐Metal Works, and a region with noindustrial pollutants (as a control). The heavy metalcontent in soil, roots, annual shoots and perennial parts ofgrapevine, leaves, grapes and wine, was determined. Soil samples androots of the rootstock Kober 5BB were taken at 10 cm intervals fromdepths of 0–100 cm. Roots were divided by thickness infractions at 1 mm intervals. The shoots, bark, vascular tissue, wood,core and diaphragm were investigated. The leaf analyses included leafblade and leaf petioles, and those of grapes, berry‐freeraceme (washed in a lot of water and unwashed). Berrieswere analysed (the berry skin, the pulp and the seeds). Theresults obtained for the Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd contents in the grapevineroots show that they depend significantly both on their amounts inthe soil and the age of the roots. The main parts of the heavy metalamounts taken by the roots of the grapevine from the soil are fixedand accumulated in the young feed rootlets (with diameters of 1mm), and small amounts of them move through the conductingsystem to the older, larger diameter root system. The experimentaldata obtained for the presence of Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd in the separatetissues and organs of grapevines grown in an industrially pollutedregion showed that their amounts were mainly due to theheavy‐metal‐containing aerosols falling from theatmosphere. Part of them, however, got into the soil, and from there,even if in minimal amounts, penetrated via the root system into thegrapevine plants and accumulated into their different overgroundparts. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry