Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative distribution patterns of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in the Italian industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) intended for food use. Concentration of REEs was assessed in inflorescences and stems of four cultivars of industrial hemp (i.e., Fedora 17, Ferimon, Futura 75, and Zenit) grown in three different areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia region (NE Italy). The four varieties considered were cultivated under the conventional regime in two sampling sites (Gemona del Friuli and Verzegnis) and under the organic regime in the third one (Campoformido). Analyses were performed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). A marked tendency to REE accumulation by the hemp inflorescences rather than by stems was identified, as well as a prevalence of medium REEs, mainly imputable to terbium detected concentration. Among the considered cultivars, Ferimon was the one that showed the highest uptake capacity, feature that might be exploited for phytoremediation purposes. Findings from this exploratory study allowed us to acquire useful indications on occurrence and distribution of REEs and provide new data about an emerging specialty crop still little-investigated, calling for further research to explore larger dataset and evaluate the feasibility of using REEs as a powerful tool for future food traceability studies.
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Data Availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article and its Supplementary Information file.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Department of Agrifood, Environmental and Animal Sciences at the University of Udine (Dott. Fabio Zuliani) for supplying the hemp samples and thank Elga LabWater (Veolia Water VWS Ltd., High Wycombe, UK) for supplying the Purelab Ultra System used in this study.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors, and it has been carried out in the frame of an Industrial PhD in Environmental Sciences at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice with an agreement with Certottica S.c.r.l. – Italian Institute of Certification of Optical Products.
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MC: conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, project administration; FC: conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, data curation, visualization, supervision; MR: conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, data curation; SP: resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; MB: resources; BS: writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration.
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Calvi, M., Corami, F., Radaelli, M. et al. Distribution Pattern of Rare Earth Elements in Four Different Industrial Hemp Cultivars (Cannabis sativa L.) Grown in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 24, 1059–1066 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-023-01610-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-023-01610-y