[Distribution characteristics of soil cadmium in different textured paddy soil profiles and its relevance with cadmium uptake by crops].

ABSTRACT

Adopting atomic absorption spectrometry (novAA400), the present study investigated the distribution characteristics of soil cadmium (Cd) in different textured paddy soil profiles under rice-wheat rotation and its correlation with Cd uptake by rice and wheat in Chengdu Plain through repeatedly taking soil and plant samples at the fixed sites in the field. The results revealed that Cd in the paddy soil profiles was mainly concentrated at the plough layer (0-15 cm) that obviously featured 'Cd accumulates towards the rooting layer'. Soil total Cd and available Cd (1 mol x L(-1) MgCl2 extraction) in the profile declined with soil depths and its average values at 30-45 cm only accounted for 47.60% and 39.49% of those at 0-15 cm. The potential downward movement of Cd in the different textured soil profiles was observed as sandy loam > heavy loam > loam. There was no significant correlation between soil pH and available Cd(r = - 0.46) at 0-15 cm soil depth, while significantly negative correlations between soil pH and available Cd were observed at 15-30 cm (r = -0.78) and 30-45 cm (r = -0.86). The results further demonstrated that the Cd contents in either grain or straw of rice and wheat were not well correlated with soil total Cd at any soil depth (r = -0.092-0.383 for rice and r = 0.174-0.424 for wheat), but significantly correlated with soil available Cd at 0-15 cm and at 15-30 cm (r = 0.766*-0.953**) despite insignificant correlation at 30-45 cm (r = 0.526-0.584). It is strongly suggested that the soil available Cd can be used as a better criterion than the total soil Cd to rate Cd contaminated soils in relation to safety of agricultural products.