Phytoavailability of Copper, Zinc and Cadmium in Sewage Sludge-Amended Calcareous Soils

The toxicity of trace elements （TEs）, such as copper （Cu）, zinc （Zn）, and cadmium （Cd）, often restrict land application of sewage sludge （SS） and there was little information about soil-plant transfer of TEs in SS from field experiments in China. In this study pot and field experiments were carried out for 2 years to investigate the phytoavailability of TEs in calcareous soils amended with SS. The results of the pot experiment showed that the phytoavailability of Zn and Cu in the SS was equal to 53.4%-80.9% and 54.8%-91.1% of corresponding water-soluble metal salts, respectively. The results from the field experiment showed that the contents of total Zn, Cu, and Cd in the soils increased linearly with SS application rates. With increasing SS application rates, the contents of Zn and Cu in the wheat grains initially increased and then reached a plateau, while there was no significant change of Cd content in the maize grains. The bioconcentration factors of the metals in the grains of wheat and maize were found to he in the order of Zn 〉 Cu 〉 Cd, but for the straw the order was Cd 〉 Cu 〉 Zn. It was also found that wheat grains could accumulate more metals compared with maize grains. The results will be helpful in developing the critical loads of sewage sludge applied to calcareous soils.