Diagnosis and Integrated Assessment of Maize Health and Associated Soil

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jlsa.202607401

Author(s)

Weishun Cheng#, Xi Luo#, Guiyou Zhang, Juhong Zhu, Suping Wang*, Lei Du*

Affiliation(s)

Institute of Environment and Safety, Wuhan Academy of Agricultural Science, Wuhan, Hubei, China #Theses authors contribute equally to this work *Corresponding Author

Abstract

The soil and maize quality of three maize planting bases in Wuhan were investigated and evaluated by single factor index method and modified Nemerow Comprehensive Index method. The results showed that the pH values of the three sites were weak acidic, the organic matter content was high, the levels of other major nutrients were unbalanced, and the micronutrient levels were relatively low. The comprehensive fertility is general. The single pollution index of heavy metals was P < 1, the Order of pollution sharing rate was: lead (35.83%) > arsenic (19.26%) > mercury (16.06%) > chromium (15.23%) > cadmium (5.39%) > copper (3.66%) > DDT(2.28%) > BHC(2.10%), comprehensive pollution index P = 0.29 < 0.7, is a safety level, for the clean level, in line with national standards. The contents of heavy metals and organic pesticides in maize seeds were lower than the green industry standard, and the enrichment ability of organic pesticides was stronger, the contents of heavy metals As, Pb, Cr and DDT in maize seeds were significantly correlated with the contents in soil, with correlation coefficients of 0.924, 0.852, 0.90 and 0.843, respectively.

Keywords

Maize; Fertility of Soil; Heavy Metals; Organic Pesticides; Integrative Assessment

References

[1] Zhang O N, Zeng Q P, Tian F, et al. Analysis on the changes of maize sown area and yield in China from 1997 to 2020. Crop Research, 2024, 38(4):329-333. [2] Zou X, Wang Q F, Wang X S, et al. The spatial patterns of corn-growing region in Hubei province. Hubei Agricultural Sciences, 2016, 55(14):3601-3604+3612. [3] Xu J M, Liu X M. Frontier trends and development strategies of soil quality and food safety in the 14th five-year plan. Acta Pedologica Sinica, 2020, 57(5):1143-1154. [4] Zhao X Q, Pan X Z, Ma H Y, et al. Scientific issues and strategies of acid soil use in China. Acta Pedologica Sinica, 2023, 60(5):1248-1263. [5] Zhang F Y, Liu B S, Lü H Y, et al. Status and countermeasures of secondary salinization in China's facility soil. Soils and Crops, 2026, 15(3):437-447. [6] Li L M. Research on impact and remediation of agricultural soil environmental pollution food security. Environmental Science and Management, 2025, 50(6):177-182. [7] Wang Y M, Yuan Y Z, Wang Z C. Long-term effects of biochar coupled with chemical fertilizer Reduction on the safe production of sweet corn in heavy metal contaminated soils. Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2025, 34(12):1962-1973. [8] Tian J, Yu J, Zhang K L, et al. Determination of available phosphorus in soil by flow injection analyzer. Chinese Journal of Inorganic Analytical Chemistry, 2026, 16(7):1334-1343. [9] Chen B, Liu L W, Shen Y, et al. Evaluation of soil fertility quality and analysis of its variation characteristics in Xuanwei Tobacco Area. Soils, 2026, 58(2):486-493. [10] Zhai K. Soil quality assessment of Hubei Fritiuaria planting base. Journal of Hubei University for Nationalities (Natural Science Edition), 2011, 29(2):235-236.