Bioavailability of Cd in a soil–rice system in China: soil type versus genotype effects

Human exposure to toxic heavy metals via dietary intake is of increasing concern. In this regard, the bioavailability of heavy metals in the soil–crop system is considered to be a key factor controlling plant uptake and, therefore, public health risk through food chain transfer [J. Environ. Sci. Health B 34(4) (1999) 681]. In 2002, a pot experiment was conducted to elucidate the relative significance of soil types and rice genotype on the bioavailability, uptake and partitioning of Cd by two rice cultivars with distinct affinity for Cd. The results indicated that the total uptake of Cd and accumulation in grain was dependent on both soil type and genotype effects. Cd spiking enhanced high Cd uptake and partitioning in grain. Inherent differences in soil type effecting Cd bioavailability were less significant under the Cd spiking regime as compared to non-Cd spiking. In the case of Soil-P, with low Cd bioavailability as indicated by the comparatively lower MgCl2 extractable Cd, differences in metal affinity between genotypes dominated uptake. Conversely, inherent differences in soil type affecting Cd bioavailability dominated uptake in the low metal affinity cultivar treatments. Under the experimental conditions evaluated, the positive interaction between soil type and genotype results in elevated levels of Cd in rice grain with the Cd values exceeding the Chinese food guideline limit of 0.2 mg kg−1. The results indicated that Cd bioavailability and plant uptake is dependent on soil chemical and physical properties affecting Cd mobility, rice genotype and soil pollution status. The results further suggested that caution should be paid to rice production with the new high metal affinity genotypes on soils with inherent Cd bioavailability as with acidic Red Soils of Jiangxi Provinces, China.