Safe utilization of cadmium- and lead-contaminated farmland by cultivating a winter rapeseed/maize rotation compared with two phytoextraction approaches

Compared with phytoextraction, growing suitable crops may be a more profitable and practical approach for managing contaminated farmland, especially when there are multiple pollutants. In this 5-year field study, the phytoaccumulator Hylotelephium spectabile, the high-biomass species amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus), and a winter rapeseed/maize rotation crop were cultivated on farmland contaminated with cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). Over 4 consecutive years, the annual Cd uptake and extraction efficiency of H. spectabile was 117.6 g hm-2 and 2.36%, respectively. The Cd extraction efficiency of amaranth was equivalent to that of H. spectabile because of its high biomass, and it extracted more Pb (660-2210 g hm-2) from the soil than did H. spectabile. However, neither of these species was able to remediate contaminated farmland rapidly and inexpensively, even with enhancing strategies such as variety screening and the addition of fertilizers and a chelating agent. A safe utilization approach to cultivate rapeseed instead of wheat significantly reduced the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks. The concentrations of heavy metals in rapeseed oil were below the limits specified in the Chinese national food standard, and the heavy metal concentrations in the byproducts (rapeseed meal and straw) were below the limits specified in Chinese national standards for organic fertilizer and feed. The cost of safe utilization was one-quarter that of phytoextraction, and the net economic benefit was 33.5%-123.5% higher than that of wheat crops. Therefore, the rapeseed/maize rotation is a profitable and feasible approach for the safe utilization of Cd- and Pb-contaminated farmland on the northern plains of China.