Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World Volume 10 Series editors Eric Lichtfouse, INRA, UMR1347 Agroe´cologie, Dijon, France Jan Schwarzbauer, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany Didier Robert, CNRS, European Laboratory for Catalysis and Surface Sciences, Saint-Avold, France Other Publications by the Editors Books Scientific Writing for Impact Factor Journals https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=42242 http://fr.slideshare.net/lichtfouse/scientific-writing-for-impact-factor-journals Environmental Chemistry http://www.springer.com/978-3-540-22860-8 Organic Contaminants in Riverine and Groundwater Systems http://www.springer.com/978-3-540-31169-0 Sustainable Agriculture Volume 1: http://www.springer.com/978-90-481-2665-1 Volume 2: http://www.springer.com/978-94-007-0393-3 Book series Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World http://www.springer.com/series/11480 Sustainable Agriculture Reviews http://www.springer.com/series/8380 Journals Environmental Chemistry Letters http://www.springer.com/10311 Agronomy for Sustainable Development http://www.springer.com/13593 Publier La Science https://listes.inra.fr/sympa/d_read/veillecaps (in French and English) More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11480 Jayanta K. Saha • Rajendiran Selladurai M. Vassanda Coumar • M.L. Dotaniya Samaresh Kundu • Ashok K. Patra Soil Pollution - An Emerging Threat to Agriculture Jayanta K. Saha Rajendiran Selladurai Division of Environmental Soil Science Division of Environmental Soil Science Indian Institute of Soil Science Indian Institute of Soil Science Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh India India M. Vassanda Coumar M.L. Dotaniya Division of Environmental Soil Science Division of Environmental Soil Science Indian Institute of Soil Science Indian Institute of Soil Science Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh India India Samaresh Kundu Ashok K. Patra Division of Environmental Soil Science Indian Institute of Soil Science Indian Institute of Soil Science Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh India India ISSN 2213-7114 ISSN 2213-7122 (electronic) Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World ISBN 978-981-10-4273-7 ISBN 978-981-10-4274-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4274-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017934645 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore Foreword Globally agriculture has been recognized as an engine of economic development and is an integral part of any agenda for addressing global issues of 21st century. According to numerous studies, pollution in agricultural soils has become a grow- ing concern in most of the developed and developing nations due to enhanced industrialization and urbanization. Intake of heavy metal via soil-crop system has been considered as the predominant pathway of human exposure to environmental heavy metals and organic pollutants in agricultural areas. The sources of heavy metals and other pollutants in the environment are mainly derived from anthropo- genic sources that include mining, smelting, waste disposal, urban effluent, vehicle exhaust, sewage sludge, and pesticide and fertilizer application. Soils fulfill a wide variety of environmental services as a foundation for biomass production, a filter and buffer for water, an archive of natural and human history, and an important store of carbon, and these ecosystem services have become core issues of modern ecology. In India, agricultural soils may indeed be managed to enhance the pro- ductive capacity and to reduce the vulnerability to pollution at farm level but are often traded off against higher priority for short-term food and water security under the pressure of increasing production goal. The farm system is a complex social- ecological system wherein biophysical and socioeconomic concerns interact and sometimes counteract in complex ways. Finding solution to check soil pollution v vi Foreword requires integrated approaches, and it has to be at the national scale where regula- tions are designed and implemented at the farm level. I am sure that the book entitled Soil Pollution: An Emerging Threat to Agricul- ture, authored by a group of professional experts from Indian Institute of Soil Science, will serve as a useful reference material for researchers, developmental officials, policy makers, and others engaged in soil protection endeavors. Dated the 8th March, 2017 New Delhi (T. MOHAPATRA) Foreword Post-liberalization India has recorded considerable industrial growth accounting for more than 30% of its GDP. This impressive growth is, however, accompanied by an increasing threat to its environment from emission, discharge and disposal of pollutants from industries, higher consumerism, etc. Rapid urbanization in the country has also posed a serious threat to its environment for unscientific disposal of huge solid and liquid wastes to its precious water bodies and agricultural land. Soil is the principal recipient of such wastes generated from industrial and urban sectors either through direct discharge or through contaminated irrigation water. Several toxic metals and compounds generating out of the above anthropogenic activities are contaminating our precious natural resources which have evolved through millions of years of pedogenic processes and also threatening the very existence of different forms of life including human beings. Although India is blessed with vast area of fertile land, plenty of water resources and favourable climatic conditions for high agricultural growth, the above happenings are affecting her natural capital at an alarming rate. The degradation of soil resources due to faulty land management practices has been highlighted for long, but the same for industrial and urban activities is, by and large, ignored. We cannot take no notice on this for the fact that (i) though estimated land area affected with pollution is smaller compared to other types of degradation, it occurs in more fertile land near cities and towns and also (ii) reclamation of such land is very costly (even with low success) compared to the degraded land caused by faulty management practices. The pressure of increasing and sustaining agricultural productivity on every piece of land in order to feed the ever-increasing population is again forcing us to pay almost no attention towards this vital area of land degradation. To combat it and develop an effective action plan for remediation of such area, we need to have first-hand information on the status of soil pollution in the country. Although sporadic information generated from some parts of the country indi- cated the build-up of pollutants in agricultural land, a systemic and comprehensive report on anthropogenic activities and the status of soil pollution is not available. vii viii Foreword I am extremely happy that the Division of Environmental Soil Science at the Indian Institute of Soil Science has compiled both primary and secondary information on the topic and brought out a useful publication entitled ‘Soil Pollution: An Emerging Threat to Agriculture’ and congratulate its authors. I hope researchers and policy makers working on the subject will be highly benefitted from the contents of the publication. Former Vice Chancellor and Professor (Soil Science) Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, India (L. N. Mandal) Kalyani, West Bengal, India Preface Due to the unique geographical location and climatological advantage, India is bestowed with fertile land capable of producing diversified crops and food for the second largest population of the world. Soil has been revered by mankind in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times as evidenced in the Atharva Veda (12-1-12) which solemnly declared the enduring filial allegiance of humans to Mother Earth ‘माता भूिमः, पɾु ोऽहं पृिथɄयाः’. In tune to that, soil was cared for maintaining its productivity through soil and water conservation and application of organic manure. However, due to greed for growing more food, the need for sustainable use of land has been ignored during the post-Green Revolution period. This, in conjunction