Abstract
Purpose
Although mitigation approaches have been developed to reduce Cd in cacao beans, the efficacy of the approaches have been inadequate to make them economically viable. The objective was to determine the application method that would be most efficacious with respect to rapidity of effect, magnitude of reduction and persistency of effect on Cd in cacao.
Method
A field study was conducted using two soil amendments, hydrated lime and biochar, at recommended rates using three methods of application, soil surface application with incorporation (SA), soil injection (SI) or deep placement using an auger (AA) along with a control. The experiment was arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications with 15 trees per replication. Phytoavailable soil Cd, soil pH, CEC and total leaf Cd concentration were monitored monthly on three guarded trees per plot over a one-year period.
Results
The efficacy of application of hydrated lime by SI was significantly better than SA in terms of rapidity of the effect on leaf Cd in comparison to the control (40% reduction compared to 30%) as well as its persistency. With biochar, again the SI was significantly better than SA with regards to reducing leaf Cd levels in comparison to the control (35% reduction compared to 20%) but the time taken to action and the persistency were lower compared to hydrated lime application. AA did not significantly reduce Cd level in the leaf with either hydrated lime or biochar application.
Conclusion
Overall the application of the amendments using SI was much more effective in reducing Cd accumulation in cacao leaves for both amendments.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Joint Cocoa Research Fund (JRF) of the European Cocoa Association (ECA), Chocolates, Biscuits and Confectionery of Europe (CAOBISCO), and the Federation of Cocoa Commerce (FCC) for the financial support of this investigation.
We would also like to acknowledge and thank Mr. Shazam Maharaj for allowing us to conduct this study on his plantation.
Funding
Joint Research Fund (JRF) of the European Cocoa Association (ECA), Chocolates, Biscuits and Confectionery of Europe (CAOBISCO), and the Federation of Cocoa Commerce (FCC).
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Dr. Gideon Ramtahal and Prof. Pathmanathan Umaharan contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Ms. Carisa Davis, Mr. Corey roberts, Mr. Anand Hanuman and Mr. Leon Ali. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dr. Gideon Ramtahal and Prof. Pathmanathan Umaharan and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ramtahal, G., Umaharan, P., Davis, C. et al. Mitigation of cadmium uptake in Theobroma cacao L: efficacy of soil application methods of hydrated lime and biochar. Plant Soil 477, 281–296 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05422-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05422-4