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Organic amendments: effects on cereals growth and cadmium remediation
Ahmad, I.; Akhtar, M. J.; Zahir, Z. A. & Mitter, B.
Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) is one of the toxic metals that
adversely affect plant growth. Organic amendments may
not only enhance nutrient status of soil, but they may also
form complexes with Cd and reduce its availability to
plants. This experiment was conducted to determine whether
organic amendments (compost and biogas slurry)
could stabilize/extract Cd and alleviate the adverse effects
of Cd on the growth of two cereals, wheat and maize.
Organic amendments along with four varying levels of Cd
(0, 5, 20, 50 mg kg-1 soil) were prepared with soil. Effect
of these amendments on tolerance indices, root/shoot dry
biomass, tissue Cd concentration, Cd uptake and translocation
were studied. Biogas slurry caused maximum
increase in tolerance indices of wheat and maize (100–112
and 117–133 %, respectively, as compared to control),
whereas compost caused significant increase in their dry
biomass. Negative correlation between root dry biomass of
wheat (r = -0.37) and maize (r = -0.53) to Cd revealed
its suppressive effects. Dry biomass of plant correlated
with organic amendments in wheat (r = 0.83–0.98),
whereas weak correlation was observed in maize
(r = 0.30–0.40). Compost significantly reduced Cd uptake
in wheat and maize; however, it increased Cd translocation
in plants. Based on the results of this study, root was the
major sink of Cd when soil was amended with or without
organic amendments. Biogas slurry removed 97 % Cd
from artificially polluted water after 13 h at pH 6. The
additions of compost in soil and biogas slurry in wastewater
are recommended to stabilize/extract Cd.
Keywords
Bioremediation; Cadmium stress; Biosorption; Compost; Biogas slurry; Wheat; Maize
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