Assessment of the Use of Natural Materials for the Remediation of Cadmium Soil Contamination

• Published in: PloS one 2016-06, Vol.11 (6), p.e0157547-e0157547
• Main Authors: de O Pinto, Tatiana, García, Andrés C, Guedes, Jair do N, do A Sobrinho, Nelson M B, Tavares, Orlando C H, Berbara, Ricardo L L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Bagasse; Bioavailability; Biology and Life Sciences; Cadmium; Cadmium - chemistry; Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Charcoal; Composting; Contamination; Corn; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Environmental aspects; Environmental Pollution; Environmental remediation; Environmental Restoration and Remediation - methods; Fourier transforms; Grain; Hazards; Heavy metals; Humic Substances; Medicine and Health Sciences; Multivariate analysis; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Oryza - chemistry; Physical Sciences; Plants (botany); Remediation; Research and Analysis Methods; Retention; Retention capacity; Rice; Sediment pollution; Soil - chemistry; Soil contamination; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; Soil pollution; Soil remediation; Soil sciences; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Spectrum analysis; Studies; Sugarcane; Vermicomposting; Worms
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157547

Rice plants accumulate cadmium (Cd2+) within the grain, increasing the danger of human exposure. Natural materials have been used in soil remediation, but few studies have examined the risks (based on the bioavailability of these metals to plants) of using these materials, so the practice remains controversial. In the present study, we evaluated the effectiveness of biochar produced from sugarcane bagasse, vermicompost (VC), vermicompost solid residue (VCR) and humin for remediation of Cd2+-contaminated soils. We characterized the interactions between these materials and Cd2+ and evaluated their capacity to alter Cd2+ availability to rice plants. Our results show that under the conditions in this study, biochar and humin were not effective for soil remediation. Although biochar had high Cd2+ retention, it was associated with high Cd2+ bioavailability and increased Cd2+ accumulation in rice plants. VC and VCR had high Cd2+ retention capacity as well as low Cd2+ availability to plants. These characteristics were especially notable for VCR, which was most effective for soil remediation. The results of our study demonstrate that in the tested materials, the bioavailability of Cd2+ to plants is related to their structural characteristics, which in turn determine their retention of Cd2+.