Abstract
Contamination of food with the heavy metal Cd is a significant global concern. In this study, a field survey was performed to investigate the characteristics of Cd transfer from soil to potato tubers (n = 105). The results showed that the bioaccumulation factor of the potato tuber ranged from about 0.1 to 1. The soil threshold of Cd derived from the cumulative probability distribution was 0.15 mg kg−1 in order to protect 95% of potatoes. Additionally, prediction models for Cd transfer were constructed based on soil properties and the concentration of CaCl2-extractable soil Cd. The results of the analysis showed that pH was the critical factor affecting Cd uptake by potatoes. Additionally, the R2 of different empirical models increased from 0.354 to 0.715 as the number of soil parameters was increased, and the predicted soil Cd concentration approached the measured values at values of about 0–15 mg kg−1. The results of this study suggest that the probability distribution method was stricter than the empirical prediction models for estimating the ecological risk of Cd contamination of potatoes in karst soils.
Highlights
With the development of industry and agriculture in China, contamination of food by the trace metal cadmium (Cd) has become a public concern due to its toxicity and persistence in soil
Previous studies found that the soil Cd significantly affected the Cd content of plants; for example, Liu et al, 2010 observed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the Cd concentration of 40 Chinese cabbage shoots when the soil Cd concentration increased from 1.0 to 5.0 mg kg−1
Christopher et al, 2019 found that the Cd concentration in the flesh of potato was 0.2 mg kg−1 when the soil Cd concentration was lower than the detection limit
Summary
With the development of industry and agriculture in China, contamination of food by the trace metal cadmium (Cd) has become a public concern due to its toxicity and persistence in soil. Soil Cd has negative effects on crop growth and production (e.g., wheat and rice) and can affect human health through the food chain (Diao, et al, 2005). Potatoes are an important food resource in China, which has the largest potato production in the world. The consumption of potatoes that have accumulated Cd from contaminated soil is a major issue because potatoes are widely planted around the world. Human activities in karst areas lead to a certain amount of heavy metal contamination in the local soil, further increasing the content of heavy metals and eventually leading to abnormal metal content (Tang, et al, 2021; Zhang, et al, 2021). It is necessary to study the transfer of Cd from soil to crops in order to better control soil risks and ensure food safety
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