Effects of Exogenous 5-Aminolevulinic Acid and 24-Epibrassinolide on Cd Accumulation in Rice from Cd-Contaminated Soil

High grain-Cd-accumulating rice variety Yongyou 9 was planted in Cd-contaminated farmland in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China to study the effects of 5-aminolevulinic acid(ALA) and24-epibrassinolide(EBR) on Cd accumulation in brown rice. Results showed that the exogenous ALA and EBR had no significant effects on agronomic traits, soil pH and total Cd content in soil, but had some effects on the available Cd content in soil, and significantly influenced the Cd accumulation in the different parts of rice. Results also showed that 100 mg/L exogenous ALA significantly reduced the Cd accumulation in brown rice to blow the food safety standard(0.2 mg/kg), and also significantly reduced the Cd contents in the roots and culm of rice. However, 200 mg/L exogenous ALA treatment increased the Cd content in brown rice remarkably. In addition, 0.15 mg/L EBR treatment increased Cd accumulation in roots, culm, leaves and brown rice notably, whereas 0.30 mg/L exogenous EBR treatment reduced the Cd accumulation in brown rice properly, but it was not significant. Therefore,proper concentration of ALA can effectively reduce the Cd accumulation in brown rice, which can be used as an effective technical method for the safe production of rice in Cd polluted farmland.

Effects of 4 Types of Remediation Agents on Reducing Cd Contents in Soil and Rice on Cd-contaminated Farmland

A field experiment was carried out in Cd-contaminated rice fields in a county of Hengyang to explore the effects of different types of remediation agents on the contents of soil available Cd and rice Cd,and rice yield by using one rice variety Longliangyouhuazhan,and 4 kinds of remediation agents:DG foliar control agent,SMA microbial inoculant,XFJ organic fertilizer and LXM calcium-and silicon-based passivator as test materials.The results showed that compared with CK,after applying DG foliar control agent,soil available Cd content increased rather than decreased,whereas rice Cd content decreased,not reaching a significant level.When applied with SMA microbial inoculant,soil pH value,soil available Cd and rice Cd contents showed a downward then upward trend with the increase of its application rates.Between 3 levels of SMA treatments,the content of soil available Cd in SMA2 was the lowest,decreased by 8.59%in comparison with CK,contrarily,two other SMA treatments were increasing instead of decreasing in the content of soil available Cd.The application of XFJ organic fertilizer and LXM calcium-and silicon-based passivator increased soil pH value,and reduced soil available Cd and rice Cd contents;the contents of soil available Cd and rice Cd decreased with their application rates increasing.Compared with CK,XFJ3 reduced soil available Cd content by 9.40%,and significantly reduced rice Cd content by 57.28%.In LXM3 treatment,soil available Cd content reduced by 14.57%,rice Cd content was 71.57%lower than CK,reaching the lowest level.In general,LXM calcium-and silicon-based passivator had the best Cd reduction effect,with the optimal application amount of 6000 kg/hm^(2).

Adsorption, separation and recovery properties of blocky zeolite-biochar composites for remediation of cadmium contaminated soil

Cadmium(Cd) contamination in soils is a global ecological threat. Conventional powdered biochar added to soil can temporarily immobilize Cd but is difficult to separate from soil, leading to secondary release of Cd and posing potential ecological and human health risks. The blocky biochar is also difficult to separate from the soil due to its fragile nature. One of the keys to overcome the difficulties in separating biochar from soil is to improve its mechanical strength. Blocky zeolite-biochar composites(ZBC) that have good mechanical strength were obtained after pyrolyzing the mixture of 50% feedstock and 50% zeolite powder at 400 ℃. ZBC and NaOH-activated ZBC(ZBC_a) were applied to remove Cd from soil. After sieving Cd-loaded ZBC and ZBC_a from soil, the bioavailable Cd content in the soil decreased by 59.70% and 68.54%,respectively. Zeolite contributed to improving both adsorption performance and mechanical properties of the composites. After repeating the process of “remediation-sieving-desorption-regeneration” three times, the recoveries of ZBC and ZBC_a were above 97.00%, and regeneration rates were 48.70-83.26%,respectively. Under simulated mechanical sieving conditions, ZBC and ZBC_a lost only 4.06% and 5.40%of their mass and retained their integrity. Remediation of Cd-contaminated soil with blocky zeolitebiochar composite is sustainable and safe because the removal of bioavailable Cd from soil is permanent rather than a temporary decrease of bioavailability. This study provides a reference for the preparation of separable and recyclable adsorbents for the removal of contaminants from soil.

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.

Remediation Effects of Soil Conditioners for CdPolluted Paddy Fields

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the remediation effects of 14 soil conditioners for Cd-polluted paddy fields contrasted with conventional fertilization and liming.The results showed that soil conditioners had no significant impact on rice yields.Though the soil conditioners had stable effects on decreasing the Cd content in grains,the effects varied with the category of conditioners.In general,The Cd contents of early rice and late rice were reduced by 22.65%~44.24%and 15.20%~63.03%,respectively.Additionally,the stem and leaves showed the same decreasing tendency.Cluster analysis suggested that soil conditioners can be divided into three categories:the first category increases the soil pH to inhibit the Cd activity and cut down the Cd translocation from soil to stem and leaves,which is most efficient in the reduction of Cd content in rice grains;the other category relies on the antagonism or co-precipitation between Cd and certain elements to inhibit the translocation and redistribution of Cd from rice stems to grains,providing a common effect on Cd reduction;the last category can be seen as a combination of the former two categories from the perspective of its functional mechanism and it has a moderate effect on the reduction of Cd contents in rice grains.

Composition,Property Characterization and Application of Agricultural and Forest Biomass Carbon

We analyzed the compositions and basic properties of agricultural and forest biomass carbon,and used the pot method to study the influence of such element on the remediation of contaminated soils and growth of crops.Results show that agricultural and forest biomass carbon contains various nutrients that are necessary for crop growth,high specific surface area,and pore structure development.Cotton stalk charcoal can reduce bioavailability of Cadmium(Cd) in soil.Under mild Cd pollution,soil treated with cotton stalk charcoal adsorbs Cd at a rapid rate.With increasing extent of Cd pollution,Cd adsorption rate gradually slows down and Cd adsorption amount gradually increases.In soil treated with cotton stalk charcoal,the amount of Cd accumulated in the edible portions and roots of Brassica chinensis significantly decrease.The Cd mass fraction of the edible portions and roots are reduced by 49.43%- 68.29%,64.14%- 77.66% respectively.Appropriately adding carbon cotton stalks increases crop biomass.At a certain range,increasing cotton stalk charcoal also promotes the absorption of major nutrients in Brassica chinensis.

Cadmium Accumulation and Translocation in Two Jerusalem Artichoke(Helianthus tuberosus L.) Cultivars

Jerusalem artichoke(Helianthus tuberosus L.) not just can be used for bioethanol production but may be potentially used in phytoremediation for the removal of heavy metal pollutants.Two Jerusalem artichoke cultivars,N2 and N5,were subjected to six cadmium(Cd) concentrations(0,5,25,50,100 and 200 mg L1) to investigate Cd tolerance and accumulation.After 21 days of growth,the effects of Cd on growth,chlorophyll content,net photosynthetic rate,intercellular CO2 concentration and malondialdehyde content were evaluated.Most growth parameters were reduced under Cd stress.The two Jerusalem artichoke cultivars had relatively high Cd tolerance and accumulation capacity(> 100 mg kg1),with N5 being more tolerant and having higher Cd accumulation than N2.Roots accumulated more Cd than stems and leaves.The bioconcentration factors(far higher than 1) and translocation factors(lower than 1) decreased with an increase in Cd applied.The results suggested that Jerusalem artichoke could be grown at relatively high Cd loads,and N5 could be an excellent candidate for phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soils.

In situ stabilization remediation of cadmium contaminated soils of wastewater irrigation region using sepiolite

The effects of immobilization remediation of Cd-contaminated soils using sepiolite on soil pH, enzyme activities and microbial communities, TCLP-Cd （toxicity characteristic leaching procedure-Cd） concentration, and spinach （Spinacia oleracea） growth and Cd uptake and accumulation were investigated. Results showed that the addition of sepiolite could increase soil pH, while the TCLP-Cd concentration in soil was decreased with increasing sepiolite. The changes of soil enzyme activities and bacteria number indicated that a certain metabolic recovery occurred after the sepiolite treatments, and spinach shoot biomass increased by 58.5%-65.5% in comparison with the control group when the concentration of sepiolite was ~ 10 g/kg. However, the Cd concentrations in the shoots and roots of spinach decreased with an increase in the rate of sepiolite, experiencing 38.4%-59.1% and 12.6%--43.6% reduction, respectively, in contrast to the control. The results indicated that sepiolite has the potential for success on a field scale in reducing Cd entry into the food chain.