Can Cadmium Uptake by Chinese Cabbage be Reduced After Growing Cd-Accumulating Rapeseed?

Rapeseed （Brassica campestris L.）, a Cd-accumulating crop, is effective in reducing plant-available Cd from soil. A pot experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the Cd uptake by Chinese cabbage （Brassica pekinensis Rupr.） grown in rotation with rapeseed would be reduced due to the efficient removal of bioavailable Cd from soil solution by the rapeseed crops. The Cd removal by shoot for the rapeseed cultivar Zhucang Huazi ranged from 0.24% to 0.99% in natural Cd-contaminated soil （soil A） and from 0.63% to 1.23% in artificial Cd-contaminated soil （soil B） during the growth period of 4 7 weeks; whereas that for the rapeseed cultivar Chuanyou Ⅱ-93 ranged from 0.25% to 0.66% and from 0.38% to 1.02%, respectively. Chinese cabbage grown in the pots with soil A for five weeks after harvesting rapeseed exhibited a significantly lower Cd concentration compared to that grown in the control pots （uncropped with rapeseed）. However, the rotation of rapeseed did not lower the Cd concentration of Chinese cabbage on soil B. Although an increase of Cd uptake was observed in the rapeseed cultivars with growth time, and the decrease of soil NH4OAc-extractable Cd was found only in the natural rather than artificial Cd-contaminated soil.

Rapeseed (Brassica campestris L.), a Cd-accumulating crop, is effective in reducing plant-available Cd from soil. A pot experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the Cd uptake by Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis Rupr.) grown in rotation with rapeseed would be reduced due to the efficient removal of bioavailable Cd from soil solution by the rapeseed crops. The Cd removal by shoot for the rapeseed cultivar Zhucang Huazi ranged from 0.24% to 0.99% in natural Cd-contaminated soil (soil A) and from 0.63% to 1.23% in artificial Cd-contaminated soil (soil B) during the growth period of 4–7 weeks; whereas that for the rapeseed cultivar Chuanyou II-93 ranged from 0.25% to 0.66% and from 0.38% to 1.02%, respectively. Chinese cabbage grown in the pots with soil A for five weeks after harvesting rapeseed exhibited a significantly lower Cd concentration compared to that grown in the control pots (uncropped with rapeseed). However, the rotation of rapeseed did not lower the Cd concentration of Chinese cabbage on soil B. Although an increase of Cd uptake was observed in the rapeseed cultivars with growth time, and the decrease of soil NH 4 OAc-extractable Cd was found only in the natural rather than artificial Cd-contaminated soil.