Cadmium bioavailability well assessed by DGT and factors influencing cadmium accumulation in rice grains from paddy soils of three parent materials

High Cd resulted from natural background or agricultural activities in some of the paddy soils in South China is a concern. It is imperative to understand the relationship between Cd bioavailability in high Cd soils and Cd accumulation in rice grains. Therefore, our objectives are to explore the relationship between Cd accumulation in rice grains and Cd availability which was characterized with five different methods, and to investigate factors influencing Cd accumulation in rice. One hundred and twenty-two paired soil and rice plant samples were collected from paddy fields of three parent materials (sandshale, limestone, and Quaternary red earth) in Guangxi Province. Soil Cd availability was assessed using three chemical extractants (0.43 M HNO3, 0.01 M CaCl2, and 0.005 M DTPA) and compared with Cd in soil solution and that sampled by the diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) method. A five-step sequential fractionation of Cd was also carried out. Random forest (RF) was employed for assessing factor relative importance in Cd accumulation in rice plants and grains in high Cd soils. All of the soil samples had a total Cd content exceeding the maximum permissible concentration (0.3 mg kg(-1)) for soils with the exchangeable fraction taking up 50, 56, and 39%, respectively. For the rice grains harvested from the soils derived from sandshale, limestone, and Quaternary red earth, 67, 95, and 28%, respectively, had a Cd content exceeding the maximum permissible concentration for grain (0.2 mg kg(-1)). The results demonstrated high Cd bioavailability in these areas and indicated potential health risk when people ingest the rice grains. Cd measured by DGT best reflected Cd bioavailability. The Cd in soil solution (Cd-soln), which is directly available, and CaCl2-extracted Cd were also significantly related to grain Cd content. Factor relative importance assessment based on random forest (RF) showed that soil pH was among the top two most important physicochemical factors of the three types of soils influencing Cd accumulation in rice grains. Besides, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), clay, and dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate-extracted Mn (Mn-DCB) was the other major influencing factor in the sandshale soils, limestone soils, and Quaternary red earths, respectively. The results indicated that DGT technique better predicted Cd bioavailability. Manipulating soil pH could be used to reduce Cd bioavailability and its accumulation in plants. However, manipulating soil DOC, clay and Fe/Mn content were soil-type-dependent.