Remediation effects of different commercial amendments in Cadmium-Mercury co-contaminated wheat fields and rhizosphere microbial communities

ZHANG Huan-huan; ZHANG Xin-ming; PENG Jun-wei; DONG Yuan-hua; LI Jian-gang

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China Environmental Science ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (1) : 269-278.

Remediation effects of different commercial amendments in Cadmium-Mercury co-contaminated wheat fields and rhizosphere microbial communities

ZHANG Huan-huan^1,2,3, ZHANG Xin-ming⁴, PENG Jun-wei^1,2,3, DONG Yuan-hua^1,2,3, LI Jian-gang^1,2,3

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Abstract

This study evaluated six inorganic commercial amendments-Ningliang (NL), Tianxiang (TX), Longchang (LC), Wonong (WN), Gefeng (GF), and Baijinhui (BJH) using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes to perform rhizosphere metagenomic analysis. We investigated the effects of applying soil amendments on cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) accumulation, translocation characteristics in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and the structure of rhizobacterial community in Cd-Hg co-contaminated soil. The field experiment demonstrated that soil amendments significantly reduced the grain Cd enrichment (BCF_Cd) by 20.93%~64.87% and grain Hg enrichment (BCF_Hg) by 13.44%~34.66%, and the proportion of available Cd in soil decreased by 25.06%~39.58%. Notably, the treatments of LC and WN exhibited the optimal performance in immobilizing Cd and inhibiting Cd translocation in wheat, with WN concurrently suppressing Hg translocation. Microbial analysis indicated that amendments changed the rhizobacterial communities by enriching Cd-tolerant bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadota), thereby reducing the bioavailability of heavy metals (HMs). PICRUSt2 functional prediction indicated that rhizobacteria synergistically mitigated the toxicity of HMs through the enrichment of amino acid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism. In summary, amendments could block Cd and Hg enrichment in wheat by direct reduction of HMs bioavailability in soil, and indirect enrichment of rhizosphere metal-tolerant bacterial microbiomes.

Key words

cadmium / mercury / combined contaminated / soil amendment / rhizosphere microbial

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ZHANG Huan-huan, ZHANG Xin-ming, PENG Jun-wei, DONG Yuan-hua, LI Jian-gang. Remediation effects of different commercial amendments in Cadmium-Mercury co-contaminated wheat fields and rhizosphere microbial communities[J]. China Environmental Science. 2026, 46(1): 269-278

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