Ecological characteristics of soil quality of roadside areas used for growing crops

This paper presents data on the content of heavy metals in the road-side soils (transport lands) along the Orenburg-Orsk motorway and the Saraktash-Kuvandyk motorway in Orenburg Region, Russia. The objects of the study were two agricultural fields (wheat and barley) located between the motorway and the forest shelterbelt. The purpose of the study was to find the total content and the active form of heavy metals in the studied soils, to assess their quality by the degree of ecological adversity, and to determine the possibility of using them for cultivating crops. The comprehensive chemical pollution indicator (CCPI) and the ecotoxicological soil quality indicator (ESQI) were used to assess the ecological condition of the studied fields. The soil samples were tested to find the content of cadmium, zinc, lead, manganese, iron, copper, chromium, cobalt, and nickel. Cadmium had the highest active form percentage (9-17%) in the total heavy metal content in soils, sampled along the Saraktash-Kuvandyk motorway, while lead content was the highest (5...