Abstract
(1) Background: Even in croplands with a low concentration of cadmium (Cd), there is still a risk for planting crops because of the high accumulation capacity of some leafy vegetables. (2) Methods: In this study, water spinach was planted in four main soil series (Wa, Eh, Tk, and Yu) in central Taiwan, which were spiked with Cd. The soil available phosphorous content was increased to 10–17 mg/kg, and the accumulation and developed chemical forms of Cd were analyzed. (3) Results: The experimental results showed that addition of phosphorous to Wa and Eh promoted the growth of water spinach. Accumulation and upward translocation of Cd were also increased in the phosphorus treatment compared with the control. The addition of phosphorus increased the percentage of Cd compartmentalized in undissolved Cd phosphate, which revealed that the mobility and toxicity of Cd were reduced in the phosphorus treatment. However, most of the water spinach was not edible because the vegetable-induced hazard quotient, which was calculated using three methods, showed hazardous potential in general.
Highlights
Cadmium (Cd) contamination of soil is a global problem associated with activities such as mining, leather treating, electroplating, and fertilization [1]
The compartmentalization of Cd into chemical forms depends on the plant species under consideration [7,8], but many plants compartmentalize it into FNaCl as a detoxification mechanism [5,7,9]
The soil series we examined were characterized by low availability of Cd, the grown water spinach had a high capacity to accumulate Cd
Summary
Cadmium (Cd) contamination of soil is a global problem associated with activities such as mining, leather treating, electroplating, and fertilization [1]. Plants have many mechanisms to alleviate stress due to Cd. Different plant organs use its chemical forms—including inorganic Cd (FE ), water-soluble. Cd (FW ), pectate- and protein-integrated Cd (FNaCl ), undissolved Cd phosphate (FHAc ), Cd oxalate (FHCl ), and residual Cd (FR )—in detoxification mechanisms [2,3]. The mobility of FE and FW is higher than that of other chemical forms; it is easy to translocate them upward from roots to shoots [4–6]. The compartmentalization of Cd into chemical forms depends on the plant species under consideration [7,8], but many plants compartmentalize it into FNaCl as a detoxification mechanism [5,7,9]. The application of phosphorous (P) enables changing the availability of heavy metals in soils [10]
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