Soil – plant system: a case study of Vitis berlandieri x Vitis rupestris rootstock varieties

Lanthanides are part of rare earth elements. Nowadays studies focused on these elements are increasing to assess the possibility to their use in the traceability to effectively determining the geographical wine origin. In the traceability project we start studying the soil plant system. The aim of the research was to verify if different varieties of rootstock on identical soil have similar lanthanides uptake behavior and if the same rootstock could reproduce different lanthanides distribution for different soil typologies. Three different varieties of rootstock V. berlandieri X V. rupestris (1103 Paulsen, 779 Paulsen and 140 Ruggeri), planted on different soils (carbonatic, clayey and volca…

Potential of the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii as bioindicator for PHAs

Every year 230.000 t of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAs) enter the marine environment, resulting ubiquitously distributed world‐wide. These compounds are aromatic molecules of special concern because of their toxic and carcinogenic properties. The two main sources of PHAs in the environment are fossil fuels, mainly crude oil, and the incomplete combustion of organic materials such as wood, coal and oil. They enter the sea by both atmospheric and aquatic routes. As a consequence of their hydrophobic nature, in aquatic environments PHAs rapidly tend to associate with particulate matter and sediments represent the most important reservoir. Animal and aquatic plants can accumulate PHAs f…

THE BIOGEOCHEMICAL BEHAVIOUR OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS AS A CONSEQUENCE OF PROCESSES OCCURING IN THE VITIS VINIFERA L. – SOIL SYSTEM

The geochemical behaviour of lanthanides and yttrium (Rare Earth Elements, REE) has been investigated mainly in geological systems as the REE exploitation in industrial and agricultural practices is progressively growing in the last years, to such an extent to become strategic materials. Extensive researches evidenced that REE capability to investigate processes occurring at the interface between different media such as the in depth investigation of REE behaviour is a matter of fact in many geochemical studies. These capabilities are a consequence of the chemical characters of REE that are exploited to investigate processes occurring during migrations of chemical elements in the soil-to-pla…

Assessing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) bioaccumulation in the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1971) (Sabellidae) in Sicilian harbours

Ottimizzazione delle procedure di estrazione degli IPA e valutazione della possibilità di utilizzare Sabella spallanzanii come bioaccumulatore

Determination of YLOID in soil and grapevine systems (Vitis vinifera L.) by ICP-MS technique: a hopeful proxy for the geographical characterization of food products?

Chemical behavior of YLOID (Y and Lanthanoid) into soil was extensively studied both to evaluate geochemical process. Metal cations can be immobilized onto particle surface of soil due to the formation of stable complexes with organic matter. If environmental conditions change metals can be mobilized and therefore to became bioavailable [1]. In recent years identification of the geographical origin of food has acquired very importance because consumers are more and more interested in knowing the provenance of the food purchased and/or eaten [2]. Then the knowledge of a relationship between the chemistry of the substrates and the food could be an important tool for the quality guarantee of t…

Geochemical behaviour of rare earths in Vitis vinifera grafted onto different rootstocks and growing on several soils.

The geochemical behaviour of lanthanides and yttrium (Rare Earth Elements, REEs) has been investigated mainly in geological systems where these elements represent the best proxies of processes involving the occurrence of an interface between different media. This behaviour is assessed according to features recorded in sequences of REE concentrations along the REE series normalised with respect to a reference material. In this study, the geochemical behaviour of REE was investigated in different parts of Vitis vinifera specimens grown off-soil, on soils of different nature and grafted onto several rootstocks in order to evaluate effects induced by these changes. The results indicated that ro…

Comparison of different methods for extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from Sicilian (Italy) coastal area sediments.

This paper describes a work aimed at improving the conditions of an extraction method, coupling GC-MS determination, for the analysis without cleanup phase, of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from sediment samples. The automatic Soxhlet extraction in warm mode (using Extraction System B-811 Standard, Buchi) has demonstrated advantages for automation, reduced extraction time, and lower solvent use than for conventional Soxhlet extraction. Under these conditions, the recoveries are very good as they resulted greater than 85 % and, in most of the cases, near 100 %. The repeatability is also satisfactory (relative standard deviation less than 15 %). The detection limits are also accepta…

Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Sediments from Sicilian Coastal Area (Scoglitti) using Automated Soxhlet, GC-MS, and Principal Component Analysis

A methodology for the PAHs and PCBs congener determination in sediment samples has been revised. We determined the distributions of PAHs and PCBs in the superficial sediments of the Scoglitti (Italy) coastal area to provide data for comparison with other marine systems and to hypothesize the sources. Extraction yield, for PCB, was never less than 60% in most cases, while for PAHs, utilizing perdeuterated surrogate standard (benz[a]anthracene-d12 and anthracene-d10) was never less than 72%. The total concentration of the 16 PAHs investigated, expressed as the sum of concentrations, PAHs, varied from 1–5087 μg/kg of dry matrix, while the PCBs ranged from detection limit to 36 μg/kg of dry mat…

Multivariate analysis of historical data (2004-2013) in assessing the possible environmental impact of the Bellolampo landfill (Palermo).

Multivariate analysis was performed on a large data set of groundwater and leachate samples collected during 9 years of operation of the Bellolampo municipal solid waste landfill (located above Palermo, Italy). The aim was to obtain the most likely correlations among the data. The analysis results are presented. Groundwater samples were collected in the period 2004–2013, whereas the leachate analysis refers to the period 2006–2013. For groundwater, statistical data evaluation revealed notable differences among the samples taken from the numerous wells located around the landfill. Characteristic parameters revealed by principal component analysis (PCA) were more deeply investigated, and corr…

Potential of the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii as bioindicator for PAHs

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii, as a reliable bioindicator, by GCMS

Every year 230.000 tons of PAHs enter the marine environment, resulting ubiquitously distributed worldwide. These compounds are aromatic molecules of special concern because of their toxic and carcinogenic properties. As a consequence of their hydrophobic nature, in aquatic environments, PAHs rapidly tend to associate with particulate matter and sediments represent the most important reservoir. In the present study the level of PAHs in the sessile filter-feeder polychaete Sabella spallanzanii was assessed. In particular, the concentration of PAHs was determined in polychaetes (body and tube) collected from three Sicilian areas, subject to different anthropic pressure. A transplanting experi…

DETERMINATION OF YLOID IN SOIL AND GRAPEVINE SYSTEMS (Vitis vinifera L.) BY ICP-MS TECHNIQUE: A HOPEFUL PROXY FOR THE GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS? – PART II.

In recent years identification of the geographical origin of food has acquired very importance because consumers are more and more interested in knowing the provenance of the food purchased and/or eaten. The knowledge of a chemistry relationship between the soil and the agricultural products is an important tool for the quality assessment of food. Metal cations onto particle surface of soil changing the environmental conditions can be mobilized and therefore to became bioavailable. In particular the chemical behavior of YLOID (Y, La and Lanthanoid) was studied to evaluate and trace the distribution from soil to roots, leaves to the grape in Vitis vinifera L. In a first study YLOID, present …