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The effect of two different biochars on remediation of Cd-contaminated soil and Cd uptake by Lolium perenne

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Abstract

Biochar can be widely used to reduce the bioavailability of heavy metals in contaminated soil because of its adsorption capacity. But there are few studies about the effects of biochar on cadmium uptake by plants in soil contaminated with cadmium (Cd). Therefore, an incubation experiment was used to investigate the effects of rice straw biochar (RSBC) and coconut shell biochar (CSBC) on Cd immobilization in contaminated soil and, subsequently, Cd uptake by Lolium perenne. The results showed that the microbial counts and soil enzyme activities were significantly increased by biochar in Cd-contaminated soil, which were consistent with the decrease of the bioavailability of Cd by biochar. HOAc-extractable Cd in soil decreased by 11.3–22.6% in treatments with 5% RSBC and by 7.2–17.1% in treatments with 5% CSBC, respectively, compared to controls. The content of available Cd in biochar treatments was significantly lower than in controls, and these differences were more obvious in treatment groups with 5% biochar. The Cd concentration in L. perenne reduced by 4.47–26.13% with biochar. However, the biomass of L. perenne increased by 1.35–2.38 times after adding biochar amendments. So, Cd uptake by whole L. perenne was augmented by RSBC and CSBC. Accordingly, this work suggests that RSBC and CSBC have the potential to be used as a useful aided phytoremediation technology in Cd-contaminated soil.

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Acknowledgements

The authors also wish to thank Professor Guanglei Cheng from Sichuan University for the technical assistance. This study was supported by the Science and Technology Support Program of Sichuan Province (2016NZ0050); the Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements Transformation Program of Sichuan Province (2017NZZJ008); the Key Research and Development Program of Sichuan Province (2017SZ0188, 2017SZ0181, 2018NZ0008); and the National Science and Technology Supporting Program (2015BAD05B01-5).

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  1. Lingling Li and Zhilei Jia have contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Lingling Li, Zhilei Jia, Hang Ma, Wanying Bao, Xuedan Li, Hang Tan, Fei Xu & Heng Xu

  2. Institute of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control of Sichuan Academy of Environmental Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Yunzhen Li

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  1. Lingling Li
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Li, L., Jia, Z., Ma, H. et al. The effect of two different biochars on remediation of Cd-contaminated soil and Cd uptake by Lolium perenne. Environ Geochem Health 41, 2067–2080 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00257-y

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