Cadmium in Soil and Plants: A Review

Heavy metals are serious pollutants and their accumulation in the environment imposes great effects on environmental ecology. Cadmium contamination is one of the heavy metals that is currently becoming a serious concern worldwide due to its high toxicity effects leading to worse results on both environmental and human health. This is particularly due to the consumption of plants with cadmium deposition. This chapter makes a critical review by highlighting sources of cadmium in soil, its accumulation, permissible levels, uptake mechanism and translocation in plant tissue, and its toxicity effects on the plant and humans. Also, the scope of this paper describes various remediation strategies currently available for reducing cadmium accumulation in the soil as well as in plants.