Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2019, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (3): 385-391.doi: 10.19741/j.issn.1673-4831.2018.0642

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Accumulation of Copper and Zinc in Grains of Rice and Wheat Cultivars With Contrasting Cadmium Uptake Capacities

HE Pu1,2, LIU Hong-yan1, WU Long-hua2, MU Ting-ting2   

  1. 1. School of Agronomy, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
  • Received:2018-10-15 Online:2019-03-25 Published:2019-04-25

Abstract:

Low contents of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in rice and wheat grains will affect not only plant growth and grain nutritional value but also the suitability of the grains in human diet. A pot experiment was conducted using selected typical paddy soils in the dominant rice producing areas of China to study the differences in Cu and Zn uptake in rice-wheat rotation systems with two cultivars of rice and of wheat with contrasting cadmium (Cd) accumulation capacities. There were significant differences in the average concentrations of Cu and Zn in high and low Cd accumulating rice cultivars, with Cu concentrations of 5.07 and 5.75 mg·kg-1 and Zn concentrations of 42.10 and 33.60 mg·kg-1, respectively. However, there were no significant differences in the average Cu and Zn concentrations in the high and low Cd accumulation wheat cultivars, with 4.37 and 4.94 mg·kg-1 Cu and 34.40 and 35.40 mg·kg-1 Zn, respectively. Summarizing the previous results, the differences in high and low Cd accumulation in wheat were not significantly related to the large differences in Cu and Zn in the wheat grains. The Zn bio-concentration factors (BCF) of rice and wheat were higher than those of Cu. The Cu and Zn BCF of high and low Cd accumulation rice cultivars grown in soils from northeast China were 0.31 and 0.73, and 0.41 and 0.64, respectively. However, the Cu and Zn BCF of the high and low Cd accumulation wheat cultivars were only 0.19 and 0.44, and 0.22 and 0.42, respectively. Growing rice in the northern region can therefore increase the enrichment of Cu and Zn in rice more effectively than in wheat. These results indicate that, in terms of the safety and nutritional quality of rice and wheat, planting high and low Cd accumulating rice and wheat will not result in Cu and Zn nutrient imbalance.

Key words: paddy soil, rice, wheat, cadmium accumulation, copper, zinc, absorption

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