The Cd concentration in the seed of crops depends on various soil factors including parent material, texture, pH, soil
redox, and salinity. Cadmium accumulation also varies among crop species and cultivars within a species. Cadmium and
Zn may have either an antagonistic or a synergistic effect on plant uptake that can be influenced by the soil Cd and Zn
concentrations. The objective was to determine the effect of Zn fertilizer additions on the seed Cd of nine crops commonly
grown in North Dakota, USA. Studies were conducted at five North Dakota locations representing different soil series
during 1994 and 1995. In Experiment 1, nine crops common in North Dakota were grown with and without the addition of
25 kg ha
-1 Zn fertilizer. Among crops evaluated, the greatest seed Cd accumulation occurred in flax (
Linum usitatissimum
L.) followed by sunflower (
Helianthus annuus
L.), soybean (
Glycine max
[L.] Merr.), and durum wheat (
Triticum turgidum
L. var. durum). In Experiment 2, two durum wheats and one flax cultivar were grown under three Zn treatments of 0, 5,
and 25 kg ha
-1. In Experiment again flax had the higher seed Cd level compared with the two durum varieties. Based on the
results from both studies, addition of Zn fertilizer did not consistently reduce seed Cd content, and even when statistically
significant, the level of reduction was small and not likely to impact marketability of Cd accumulating crops such as flax,
sunflower, soybean, and durum.
