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Mitigating heavy metal accumulation into rice (Oryza sativa L.) using biochar amendment — a field experiment in Hunan, China

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Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of bean stalk (BBC) and rice straw (RBC) biochars on the bioavailability of metal(loid)s in soil and their accumulation into rice plants. Phytoavailability of Cd was most dramatically influenced by biochars addition. Both biochars significantly decreased Cd concentrations in iron plaque (35–81 %), roots (30–75 %), shoots (43–79 %) and rice grain (26–71 %). Following biochars addition, Zinc concentrations in roots and shoots decreased by 25.0–44.1 and 19.9–44.2 %, respectively, although no significant decreases were observed in iron plaque and rice grain. Only RBC significantly reduced Pb concentrations in iron plaque (65.0 %) and roots (40.7 %). However, neither biochar significantly changed Pb concentrations in rice shoots and grain. Arsenic phytoavailability was not significantly altered by biochars addition. Calculation of hazard quotients (HQ) associated with rice consumption revealed RBC to represent a promising candidate to mitigate hazards associated with metal(loid) bioaccumulation. RBC reduced Cd HQ from a 5.5 to 1.6. A dynamic factor’s way was also used to evaluate the changes in metal(loid) plant uptake process after the soil amendment with two types of biochar. In conclusion, these results highlight the potential for biochar to mitigate the phytoaccumulation of metal(loid)s and to thereby reduce metal(loid) exposure associated with rice consumption.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41371459), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, 2013AA06A209 and 2012AA06A204), and the Foundation for Young Scientists of the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (QNJJ201314).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Ruilun Zheng, Zheng Chen & Guoxin Sun

  2. Research and Development Center for Grasses and Environment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100097, People’s Republic of China

    Ruilun Zheng

  3. Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361003, People’s Republic of China

    Chao Cai & Qing Huang

  4. College of Resource and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, People’s Republic of China

    Baiqing Tie, Xiaoli Liu & Ming Lei

  5. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Brian J. Reid

  6. Institute of Environmental Protection, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio al. 11, Vilnius, 10223, Lithuania

    Edita Baltrėnaitė

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  1. Ruilun Zheng
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  2. Zheng Chen
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  3. Chao Cai
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  4. Baiqing Tie
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  5. Xiaoli Liu
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  7. Qing Huang
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  8. Ming Lei
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  9. Guoxin Sun
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  10. Edita Baltrėnaitė
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Correspondence to Guoxin Sun.

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Zheng, R., Chen, Z., Cai, C. et al. Mitigating heavy metal accumulation into rice (Oryza sativa L.) using biochar amendment — a field experiment in Hunan, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 11097–11108 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4268-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4268-2

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