Assessment of Cd Pollution in Paddy Soil-Rice System in Silver Mining-Affected Areas: Pollution Status, Transformation and Health Risk Assessment

Lv Lv; Zhiqiang Jiao; Shiji Ge; Wenhao Zhan; Xinling Ruan; Yangyang Wang

doi:10.3390/ijerph191912362

Assessment of Cd Pollution in Paddy Soil-Rice System in Silver Mining-Affected Areas: Pollution Status, Transformation and Health Risk Assessment

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 28;19(19):12362. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912362.

Authors

Lv Lv¹, Zhiqiang Jiao^{1

2}, Shiji Ge^{1

2}, Wenhao Zhan³, Xinling Ruan^{1

2

4}, Yangyang Wang^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ National Demonstration Center for Environmental and Planning, College of Geography and Environmental Science, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China.
² Henan Engineering Research Center for Control & Remediation of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China.
³ National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing 100094, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions, Henan University, Ministry of Education, Kaifeng 475004, China.

Abstract

Mining activities are one of the main contamination sources of Cd in soil. However, the information about the influence of silver mining on Cd pollution in soil in mining-affected areas is limited. In the present study, sixteen paired soil and rice grain samples were collected from the farmland along the Luxi River nearby a silver mine in Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, China. The total, bioavailable, and fraction of Cd in soil and Cd content in rice grain were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The transformation of Cd in the soil-rice system and potential health risk via consumption of these rice grains were also estimated. The results showed that Cd concentration in these paddy soils ranged from 0.21 to 0.48 mg/kg, with the mean Cd concentration (0.36 mg/kg) exceeded the national limitation of China (0.3 mg/kg, GB 15618-2018). Fortunately, all these contaminated paddy soils were just slightly polluted, with the highest single-factor pollution index value of 1.59. The DTPA- and CaCl₂-extractable Cd in these paddy soils ranged from 0.16 to 0.22 mg/kg and 0.06 to 0.11 mg/kg, respectively, and the acid-soluble Cd occupied 40.40% to 52.04% of the total Cd, which was the highest among different fractions. The concentration of Cd in rice grain ranged from 0.03 to 0.39 mg/kg, and the mean Cd concentration in rice grain (0.16 mg/kg) was within the national limitation of China (0.2 mg/kg, GB 2762-2017). The bioaccumulation factor of Cd in rice grain ranged from 0.09 to 1.18, and its correlation with various indicators was nonsignificant (p < 0.05). Health risk assessment indicated that the noncarcinogenic risk for local rice consumers was within the acceptable range, but the carcinogenic risk (CR) was ranging from 1.24 × 10^-2 to 1.09 × 10^-3 and higher than the acceptable range (1.0 × 10^-4), indicating that the local rice consumers suffered serious risk for carcinogenic diseases. The results of the present study can provide reference for safety production of rice in silver mining-affected areas.

Keywords: Cadmium; health risk assessment; silver mining; toxic metal; transformation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cadmium / analysis
Calcium Chloride
China
Edible Grain / chemistry
Oryza* / chemistry
Pentetic Acid
Risk Assessment
Silver / analysis
Soil / chemistry
Soil Pollutants* / analysis

Substances

Soil
Soil Pollutants
Cadmium
Silver
Pentetic Acid
Calcium Chloride

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Science and Technology Development Project of Henan Province China (212102310503; 212102310067); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (2020M682284); Open Funding Project of National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering (SYFD062007, 6142222211001); and the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province China (202300410088).