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Effectiveness of Water Management in Producing Cadmium-Safe Rice in Soils of Different Contamination Levels and Physicochemical Properties

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Abstract

The effectiveness of water management in reducing cadmium (Cd) accumulation in rice grain has mainly been investigated in slightly and moderately contaminated soils but seldom in heavily contaminated soils. In addition, how soil physicochemical properties influence the effectiveness of water management merits investigation. In this study, a pot experiment was performed using six soils of slight (S1), moderate (S2–S5), and heavy (S6) Cd contamination levels and of different properties. Three water managements, flooding until full tillering (W1), flooding until full tillering and reflooding after 7–10-day drying (W2), and continuous flooding without drying (W3), were implemented for each soil. Cadmium content in rice grain was significantly decreased (by 60% on average) in W2 and further decreased (by 82% on average) in W3 as compared with W1 in all the six soils. Grain Cd contents in the W3 treatments were decreased to below the Chinese food safety standard of 0.2 mg kg−1 in all the six soils except in S6 (0.36 mg kg−1). For all the three water management regimes, the lowest grain Cd content was observed in S3 which had high contents of organic matter, sulfur, and iron. The results indicate that extended flooding can effectively decrease rice grain Cd accumulation in soils of various contamination levels especially those rich in organic matter, sulfur, and iron. But for heavily contaminated soils, water management may need to combine with other approaches to further decrease grain Cd content to meet food safety standard.

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Acknowledgement

This work was co-funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41271266, 41877334), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201903010012), and the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019A1515012177).

Funding

This work was co-funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41271266, 41877334), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201903010012), and the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019A1515012177).

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  1. Weisheng Lu and Dongqin Li are equally contributed to the paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Weisheng Lu, Dongqin Li, Ying Liu, Guijie Li, Yang Zhao, Qiuhua Zhang, Zulei Zeng, Huaxing Li & Guikui Chen

  2. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Weisheng Lu, Dongqin Li, Ying Liu, Guijie Li, Yang Zhao, Qiuhua Zhang, Zulei Zeng, Huaxing Li & Guikui Chen

  3. Life Science and Technology School, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang, 524048, People’s Republic of China

    Dongqin Li

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  1. Weisheng Lu
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Lu, W., Li, D., Liu, Y. et al. Effectiveness of Water Management in Producing Cadmium-Safe Rice in Soils of Different Contamination Levels and Physicochemical Properties. Water Air Soil Pollut 232, 154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05112-4

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