Influence of edaphic conditions and nitrogen fertilizers on cadmium and zinc phytoextraction efficiency of Noccaea caerulescens

Abstract

The success of cadmium phytoextraction operations with Noccaea caerulescens varies by a factor of 70 between sites of trials. However, soil factors driving the efficiency of cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) phytoextraction are still poorly understood, as are the effects of nitrogen fertilizers. We studied biomass production and Cd and Zn uptake by two contrasting populations of N. caerulescens, Ganges (metallicolous) and Wilwerwiltz (non-metallicolous) grown in pots on a range of 24 field contaminated soils for 20 weeks. The addition of KNO3 and NH4NO3 fertilizers was also tested. Using model averaging of multiple regression models, we show that the major drivers of N. caerulescens growth are physical soil factors such as organic matter and soil bulk density while trace metal accumulation mainly relies on soil Cd and Zn exchangeable concentrations. We confirm the negative effect of soil copper (Cu) on growth, even at exchangeable concentrations below 30 mg kg−1, and therefore on uptake efficiency, while increasing soil lead (Pb) content was related to increased biomass probably due to a protective effect against soil pathogens. Finally, there is a small positive effect of nitrogen fertilization on biomass production only in soils with low initial nitrogen content (under 25 μg g−1 NO3−), while above this value, the positive impact of initial nitrogen content is offset by lower shoot Cd and Zn concentrations. Our data bring substantial information regarding the physico-chemical properties to ensure N. caerulescens growth: a soil bulk density under 1.05 kg/dm3, organic matter above 7% and pH under 7.5. We show that phytoextraction efficiency is maximal for moderate soil contamination in Cd (2–10 mg kg−1) and Zn (300–1000 mg kg−1).