Cadmium Accumulation in Wheat of Different Varieties at Seedling Stage as Impacted by Addition of Exogenous Elements

【Background】Cadmium (Cd) is one of contaminants found in agricultural soils caused by anthropogenic activities including wastewater irrigation and application of phosphate fertilizers rich in Cd impurities, sludges and composts. In China, Cd contamination comes to the top in soils contaminated by all heavy metals and their metalloids. Since Cd is toxic to all organisms and highly mobile in soil for plants to take up, excessive Cd accumulation in crop tissues could impede its growth and even lead to mortality. Numerous studies showed that adding exogenous substances to soil could alleviate toxic effects of Cd on crops, but if and how their efficacy varies with crop variety remains poorly understood. 【Objective】Taking winter wheat as an example, this paper aimed to investigate the effects of exogenous Si, Ca, Mg and humic acid on uptake of Cd by different cultivars and its subsequent translocation at seedling stage. 【Method】Wheat varieties Bainong 419 (419) with high Cd accumulation in grain and Bainong 418 (418) with low Cd accumulation in grain were taken as the model plants. They were grown in hydroponic culture with the Cd content in it spiked to 10 mg/L or 30 mg/L respectively. We added Si, Ca, Mg and humic acid at different rates to the medium and harvested the crops 30 days later. We then measured Cd accumulation and transportation in roots and shoots, as well as root morphology traits. 【Result】Crop absorption of Cd varied with the wheat varieties, and the total length, surface area, volume and tip number of the roots in both varieties decreased with the increase in Cd concentration. Compared to variety 418, variety 419 took more Ca for its root developments. At low Cd concentration and compared to CK, adding Si at low dose improved root growth of the variety 419 and reduced Cd accumulation in its roots and shoots, while adding other elements inhibited root growth; applying humic acid at high dose enhanced Cd accumulation in the roots. It was found that compared to CK, adding any exogenous element reduced Ca content in the roots of the variety 419 when Cd concentration was low. For the variety 418 grown in medium with low Cd concentration, adding Si and Ca was more effective to promote root growth than adding Si alone, while adding Mg and humic acid did not show noticeable effects. Adding Si reduced Cd accumulation in roots and shoots at significant level, while adding Ca and Mg only impeded Cd accumulation in the root. Humic acid did not appear to have a noticeable impact on plant Cd. For the crops growing in medium with high Cd concentration, adding Si boosted root growth of both varieties regardless of its application rate, while in contrast, adding other elements were unable to alleviate Cd toxicity to plants at significant level. Compared with other treatments, adding Si at high does significantly increased the translocation factor (TF) for both varieties growing in medium with low Cd concentration, and it was also effective at boosting the TF for the variety 419 growing in medium with high Cd concentration. 【Conclusion】The most effective conditioner to alleviate Cd toxicity to winter wheat was Si, although its efficacy varies with wheat cultivar, Si application rate and Cd concentration in the medium where the crop grows.