Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:3:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 3/4)
Character Range: 1518837–1522788

individual plant species.
Plant species          Geometric means (mg/kg added Zn)
Common name            Scientific name                   EC10 or NOEC  EC30 or LOEC  EC50
Alfalfa                Medicago sativa                   198           297           595
Barley                 Hordeum vulgare                   83            233           495
Beet                   Beta vulgaris                     198           297           595
Black or white lentil  Vigna mungo                       95            142           284
Canola                 Brassica napus                    230           328           409
Common vetch           Vicia sativa                      42            63            127
Cotton                 Gossypium sp.                     272           288           293
Fenugreek              Trigonella foenum graecum         106           159           318
Lettuce                Latuca sativa                     264           396           793
Maize                  Zea mays                          202           304           581
Millet                 Panicum milaceum                  540           1580          2026
Oats                   Avena sativa                      222           333           667
Onion                  Allium cepa                       66            99            198
Pea                    Pisum sativum                     264           396           793
Peanuts                Arachis hypogaea                  140           224           280
Red clover             Trifolium pratense                39            59            117
Sorghum                Sorghum sp.                       123           254           444
Spinach                Spinacia oleracea                 132           198           396
Sugar cane             Sacharum                          3220          4830          9661
Tomato                 Lycopersicon esculentum           264           396           793
Triticale              Tritosecale sp.                   998           1364          1658
Wheat                  Triticum aestivum                 640           928           1172

3.4              Normalisation relationships
A normalisation relationship is an empirical model that predicts the toxicity of a single contaminant to a single species using soil physicochemical properties (for example, soil pH and organic carbon content). Seven normalisation relationships were reported in the literature for Zn toxicity (Table 5). Three were developed for Australian soils (Broos et al. 2007; Warne et al. 2008a; Warne et al. 2008b) and four have been derived for European soils (Lock & Janssen 2001; Smolders et al. 2003). Three of the relationships were for plants, two for microbial functions and two for soil invertebrates. Of these, relationships 14, 6 and  7 were used to derive Zn SQGs. Relationship number 5 for wheat was not used, as an equivalent field-based relationship for Australian soils was available and field-based normalisation relationships provide better estimates of toxicity in the field (Warne et al. 2008a) and thus are preferred to laboratory-based relationships (Schedule B5b).

Normalisation relationships are used to account for the effect of soil characteristics on toxicity data, so the resulting toxicity data more closely reflect the inherent sensitivity of the test species. All the Zn toxicity data in Tables 2–4 was normalised to their equivalent toxicity in the recommended Australian reference soil (Schedule B5b) (Table 6). Depending on the conditions under which the toxicity tests were conducted, the normalised toxicity data could be higher or lower in the reference soil compared to the original toxicity data in the test soil.

Table 5. Normalisation relationships for the toxicity of zinc to soil invertebrates, soil processes and plants.
Eqn no.      Species/soil process  Y parameter                      X parameter(s)                    Reference