Study on the distribution and contents of arsenic in apple orchard soils of Weibei,Shaanxi

【Objective】 The study investigated the contents,pollution,distributions of arsenic in apple orchard soils of Weibei,Shaanxi Province.【Method】 The 495 apple orchards were chosen from all 27 apple bases of Shaanxi Province from 2003 to 2007.The 20 sites were selected using S method in each orchard,and the soil specimens of 0 cm to 40 cm depth were collected for the content analysis of arsenic.【Result】 The apple orchard soils of Weibei,Shaanxi were alkaline,and pH values ranged from 7.6 to 9.7.The frequency distributions of arsenic contents and pH values in soil were logarithm normal schools,and geometric means were 11.80 mg/kg and 8.30 respectively.The average soil polluting index was 0.605,and the percentage of orchards with pollution indexes above 0.5 was 88.6%.Arsenic was mainly restricted to the upper 40 cm of soils with contents from 3.7 to 19.9 mg/kg.The correlation coefficient of the arsenic contents with the pH values of soils was 0.316 0,and was significant at 1% level according to SAS correlation analysis.【Conclusion】 Arsenic contents in the apple orchard oils were latent threat to apple production according to the state environmental soil condition of green food.