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Evaluation of soil amendments as a remediation alternative for cadmium-contaminated soils under cacao plantations

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Abstract

Elevated plant-available cadmium (Cd) in soils results in contamination to cacao (Theobroma cacao L) beans. Effectiveness of vermicompost and zeolite in reducing available Cd in three cacao-growing soils was studied under laboratory conditions. Sorption–desorption experiments were conducted in soils and amendments. Cadmium was added at 0 or 5 mg kg−1 (spiked), then, amendments were incorporated at 0, 0.5, or 2 %. Amended soils were incubated at room temperature for 28 days. Plant-available Cd was determined using 0.01 M CaCl2 (WSE) and Mehlich 3 (M3) extraction procedures in subsamples taken from individual bags at six time intervals. Soils and amendments displayed different sorption characteristics and a better fit was attained with Freundlich model (R 2 > 0.82). Amendments were ineffective in reducing extractable Cd in non-spiked soils. In Cd-spiked soils, vermicompost at 2 % significantly reduced WSE-Cd (P < 0.01) from 3.36, 0.54, and 0.38 mg kg−1 to values lower that instrument’s detection in all the three soils and significantly diminished M3-extractable Cd (P < 0.05) from 4.62 to 4.11 mg kg−1 in only one soil. Vermicompost at 0.5 % significantly decreased WSE-Cd (P < 0.01) from 3.04 and 0.31 to 1.69 and 0.20 mg kg−1, respectively, in two soils with low sorption capacity for Cd. In contrast, zeolite failed to reduce WSE- or M3-extractable Cd in all studied soils. A negative correlation occurred between soil pH and WSE-Cd (r > −0.89, P < 0.01). The decrease in WSE-Cd appears to be associated with the increase in pH of the vermicompost-amended soils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian River Research and Education Center, University of Florida, IFAS, Fort Pierce, FL, 34945, USA

    E. Chavez, Z. L. He & P. J. Stoffella

  2. Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnologicas del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador

    E. Chavez

  3. Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingenieria, Universidad Estatal de Milagro, Milagro, Ecuador

    E. Chavez

  4. Soils and Water Science Department, University of Florida, IFAS, Gainesville, FL, 32601, USA

    R. Mylavarapu & Y. Li

  5. United State Department of Agriculture, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    V. C. Baligar

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  1. E. Chavez
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  2. Z. L. He
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  3. P. J. Stoffella
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  4. R. Mylavarapu
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  5. Y. Li
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  6. V. C. Baligar
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Correspondence to Z. L. He.

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Responsible editor: Hailong Wang

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Chavez, E., He, Z.L., Stoffella, P.J. et al. Evaluation of soil amendments as a remediation alternative for cadmium-contaminated soils under cacao plantations. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 17571–17580 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6931-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6931-7

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