Do soil Fe transformation and secretion of low-molecular-weight organic acids affect the availability of Cd to rice?

The bioavailability of cadmium (Cd) to rice may be complicated by chemical and biological factors in the rhizosphere. The aim of this work is to investigate how soil iron (Fe) redox transformations and low-molecular-weight organic acid (LMWOA) exudation from root affect Cd accumulation in rice. Two soils (a paddy soil and a saline soil) with different physicochemical properties were used in this study. Soil redox conditions were changed by flooding and addition of organic matter (OM). Two days after the soil treatments, rice seedlings were transplanted in a vermiculite-soil system and grown for 10 days. We measured pH and Eh, LMWOA, Fe and Cd contents in rice, and their fractions in the soils and vermiculite. Cadmium accumulation in rice declined in both soils upon the flooding and OM treatment. Iron dissolution in the paddy soil and its deposition in the rhizosphere significantly increased upon the OM addition, but the concentration of Fe plaque on the rice root significantly declined. Conversely, although Fe transformed into less active fractions in the saline soil, Fe accumulation on the surface and in the tissue of root was considerably enhanced. The secretion of LMWOA was remarkably induced when the OM was amended in the saline soil, but the same effect was not observed in the paddy soil. Reduction of Cd uptake by rice could be attributed to different factors in the two soils. For the paddy soil, the lowered Cd bioavailability was likely due to the competition of Fe and Cd for the binding sites on the vermiculite surface. For the saline soil, however, rice responded to the low Fe mobility through more LMWOA exudation and Fe plaque formation, and their increases could explain the decrease of rice Cd.