Bioremediation of paddy soil with amphitropic mixture markedly attenuates rice cadmium: Effect of soil cadmium removal and Fe/S-cycling bacteria in rhizosphere

Cadmium (Cd) pollution in paddy soil can easily lead to excessive Cd in rice, thereby considerably threatening human health. Microbial leaching is an effective pathway for the mobilization and removal of Cd from soil. In this study, an amphitropic mixture (AM) composed of autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial strains was used to leach Cd-contaminated paddy fields. Chemical analysis showed that the AM effectively removed 52 % of the total Cd, 39 % of the available Cd, and 60 % of the exchangeable and carbonate-bound Cd from the paddy soil. After bioleaching, the Cd in the discarded AM solution was adsorbed using a metal adsorbent. Effects of remediation on the soil nutrients or secondary pollution were not significant. Microbial analysis showed that >96 % and 67 % of the indigenous bacteria and fungi, respectively, remained in the AM-remediated soil. Double-cropped rice was cultivated to evaluate the Cd removal efficiency of grains using AM remediation. The Cd in early and late brown rice decreased by 86 % and 56 %, respectively, which was higher than that found for a series of biochemical remediation materials reported in other studies. Furthermore, the AM remediation promoted the growth of iron (Fe)- and sulfur (S)-cycling bacteria in the rice rhizosphere, such as Sulfuricurvum, Desulfurivibrio and Geobacter etc., which reduced the Cd availability in the soil and rice uptake. This study shows that AM has potential applications in the remediation of Cd-contaminated paddy fields and provides a new pathway for safe rice production.