Cadmium uptake by wheat from sewage sludge used as a plant nutrient source. A comparative study using flameless atomic absorption and neutron activation analysis.

Abstract

Wheat has been grown in test pots at four different sewage sludge concentrations and three different pH levels in order to study the cadmium uptake from sewage sludge. The sludge contained 10 parts per million (ppm) cadmium, which is below the average cadmium concentration in sludge from Swedish sewage sludge plants. The analysis of cadmium in wheat has been performed by two methods, atomic absorption and neutron activation analysis, and good agreement was found between results from the methods. The results show that the cadmium uptake increases strongly with increasing sewage sludge concentrations. It can be concluded beyond any doubt that cadmium from sewage sludge used as a plant nutrient source is resorbed by plants. The pH of the soil was found to be of great importance for the uptake of cadmium. Lower pH gave greater cadmium uptake.