The influence of total chromium soil content on the maize zinc levels, in a polluted area

Chromium compounds are highly toxic to plants and are detrimental to their growth and development. Cr is toxic to most higher plants at 100 µMKg-1 dry weight, while Zn is an essential plant nutrient. The essentiality of Zn in plants was first shown in maize. The aim of this paper was to determine the influence of Cr contamined soils on the accumulation of Zn in maize (Zea mays L.) grains, sampled from Tarnaveni area (Mures County, Romania), a well known industrial center. The heavy metals contents in soils and maize were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry using a ContrAA 300 spectrophotometer with high resolution continuum source. In soil, Cr contents ranged from 9.7 ppm to 80.73 ppm and Zn from 21.77 to 99.87 ppm. In corn, the values for Cr are between 0.081 to 0,11 ppm and for Zn between 44.74 to 132.66 ppm. Mathematical modeling indicates that chromium in the soil might be the one which is determining the evolution of zinc corn content