Cadmium and zinc interactions and their transfer in soil-crop system under actual field conditions

The transfer of Cd and Zn from calcareous soils nearby a non-ferrous mining and smelting bases to the spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and corn (Zea mays L.) tissues and the interactions between the two metals concerned were investigated under actual field conditions. Samples of soils and entire crops were randomly collected during harvest time in 1998 in the Baiyin region. The soil metal contents showed that the furrows had been polluted (mean values: 3.16 mg kg(-1) for Cd; 146.78 mg kg(-1) for Zn) and the significant spatial variation of the soil contamination existed here (ranges, Cd: 0.14-19.3 mg kg(-1); Zn: 43.5-565.0 mg kg(-1)). The translocation ratios of the two metals from soil to crop parts in the region studied were relatively lower and the order of the element transfer in different plant tissues was root > stem > grain. The transfer ratio of element Cd was lower than that of element Zn. Cd and Zn uptake by the crop structures could be best described by four models (P < 0.01): linear; exponential; quadratic; and cubic. Apart from a linear relationship between the element Cd in the corn grains and soils, models were generally non-lincar. An analysis of Cd-Zn interaction mechanism led to the conclusion that the effects of the two metals were synergistic to each other under field conditions, in which increasing Cd and Zn contents in soils could increase the accumulations of Zn or Cd in the two crops.