Enhancing remediation efficiency of hyperaccumulators through earthworm addition: Evidence from a pot study on cadmium-contaminated soil

Chengming Zhang; Hongling Liu; Fengwu Zhou; Xizi Long; Songqing Liu; Yong Wu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173169

Enhancing remediation efficiency of hyperaccumulators through earthworm addition: Evidence from a pot study on cadmium-contaminated soil

Sci Total Environ. 2024 May 11:934:173169. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173169. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chengming Zhang¹, Hongling Liu², Fengwu Zhou³, Xizi Long⁴, Songqing Liu¹, Yong Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Development and Utilization of Characteristic Horticultural Biological Resources, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China; Sichuan Philosophy and Social Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Assessing for Rural Land Utilization, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China.
² College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Development and Utilization of Characteristic Horticultural Biological Resources, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China.
³ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Cycling and Pollution Control, School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China.
⁴ School of the Key Laboratory of Typical Environmental Pollution and Health Hazards of Hunan Province, School of Basic Medicine, School of Public Health, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Development and Utilization of Characteristic Horticultural Biological Resources, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China; Sichuan Philosophy and Social Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Assessing for Rural Land Utilization, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China. Electronic address: 083040@cdnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38735339
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173169

Abstract

Soil cadmium (Cd) contamination is an urgent environmental problem, which endangers human health through the food chain. Bioremediation attracted extensive attention around the world due to the high cost-efficiency. However, the remediation efficiency of different plant and earthworm species of soil Cd pollution is still unclear, it is thus of great significance to explore the combined effects of different remediation plants and earthworm species to improve the bioremediation capacity. In the present study, we consequently selected three species of Cd hyperaccumulator plants (vetiver, P. vittata and S. emarginatum) and three species of earthworms (E. fetida P1, E. fetida P2, and P. guillelmi) to compare the differences in Cd accumulation among various earthworm-plant combinations. Results indicated that the changes of soil pH and SOM in plant-animal combined application induced the higher soil Cd removal efficiency. The Cd removal efficiency showed highest in combination groups P. vittata-E. fetida P2 and P. vittata-P. guillelmi. Meanwhile, the improvements of biomass of plants and animals also were consistent with the increasing of Cd concentration in both plants and earthworms after combined application. It showed that the Cd concentrations in P. vittata were the highest while the TFs of Cd in S. emarginatum displays significantly more than that in others. In conclusion, the recommended combined system of earthworm-plant (P. vittata-E. fetida P2 and P. vittata-P. guillelmi) to provide reference for soil Cd bioremediation system in practice.

Keywords: Bioconcentration factor; Cadmium; Phytoremediation; Soil properties; Translocation factor; Vermiremediation.