Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) is readily absorbed by plants and can accumulate to concentrations that exceed food standards. Testing strategies that can mitigate plant uptake of Cd are essential to help manage the risk to food quality. We measured whether applying silicon (Si) fertilizer to a soil contaminated with Cd from phosphate fertilizer could decrease Cd concentrations in spinach (Spinacia olearacea) and onion (Allium cepa). The application of Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1) increased spinach dry matter (DM) yield and Si concentrations but had no effect on plant Cd concentrations or uptake. Application of Si had no effect on DM yield or Si concentrations in onions, but there was a 45% decrease in Cd concentrations in the onion bulb. Application of Si had no effect on calcium nitrate-extractable Cd. The decrease in Cd concentrations in onions was likely related to Si restricting the movement of Cd from the root to the harvestable part of the plant. These findings indicate that Si may have some potential as a mitigation tool to decrease plant uptake of Cd. Further investigation is required to evaluate its effectiveness across different soil types and test the response of a wider range of crops under field conditions.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had increased on spinach dry matter (DM) yield in spinach.
- Taxon
- spinach
Spinacia oleraceae0 - Treatment
- Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1)e0
- Outcome
- spinach dry matter (DM) yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The application of Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1) increased spinach dry matter (DM) yield and Si concentrations but had no effect on plant Cd concentrations or uptake.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had increased on Si concentrations in spinach.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae0
- Treatment
- Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1)e0
- Outcome
- Si concentrationse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The application of Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1) increased spinach dry matter (DM) yield and Si concentrations but had no effect on plant Cd concentrations or uptake.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had no effect on plant Cd concentrations in spinach.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae0
- Treatment
- Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1)e0
- Outcome
- plant Cd concentrationse0
- Direction
- no effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The application of Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1) increased spinach dry matter (DM) yield and Si concentrations but had no effect on plant Cd concentrations or uptake.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had no effect on uptake in spinach.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae0
- Treatment
- Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1)e0
- Outcome
- uptakee0
- Direction
- no effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The application of Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1) increased spinach dry matter (DM) yield and Si concentrations but had no effect on plant Cd concentrations or uptake.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had no effect on onion DM yield.
- Taxon
- onions
Allium cepae0 - Treatment
- Sie0
- Outcome
- DM yielde0
- Direction
- no effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Application of Si had no effect on DM yield or Si concentrations in onions, but there was a 45% decrease in Cd concentrations in the onion bulb.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had no effect on onion Si concentrations.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae0
- Treatment
- Sie0
- Outcome
- Si concentrationse0
- Direction
- no effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Application of Si had no effect on DM yield or Si concentrations in onions, but there was a 45% decrease in Cd concentrations in the onion bulb.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had decrease on onion Cd concentrations in the onion bulb.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae0
- Treatment
- Sie0
- Outcome
- Cd concentrations in the onion bulbe0
- Direction
- decreasee0
- Value
- 45%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Application of Si had no effect on DM yield or Si concentrations in onions, but there was a 45% decrease in Cd concentrations in the onion bulb.”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon application had no effect on calcium nitrate-extractable soil Cd.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- Sie0
- Outcome
- calcium nitrate-extractable Cde0
- Direction
- no effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Application of Si had no effect on calcium nitrate-extractable Cd.”
e1“The application of Si (1000 and 2500 kg ha−1) increased spinach dry matter (DM) yield and Si concentrations but had no effect on plant Cd concentrations or uptake.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors proposed that silicon restricted cadmium movement from onion roots to harvestable tissue.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae0
- Organ / stage
- roote0
- Compound
- Sie0
- Outcome
- decrease in Cd concentrations in onionse0
- Qualifier
- likelye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The decrease in Cd concentrations in onions was likely related to Si restricting the movement of Cd from the root to the harvestable part of the plant.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest silicon as a possible tool to reduce plant cadmium uptake.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae1
- Outcome
- mitigation tool to decrease plant uptake of Cde0
- Qualifier
- may have some potentiale0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These findings indicate that Si may have some potential as a mitigation tool to decrease plant uptake of Cd.”
e1“Cd concentrations in spinach (Spinacia olearacea) and onion (Allium cepa)”
The same questions in other papers
silicon atom · growth · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Positive and negative results
1 in the opposite direction
- no effect
silicon atom · growth · Allium cepa (onion)Positive and negative results
3 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
silicon atom · nutrient: content · Allium cepa (onion)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
silicon atom · nutrient: content · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Results agree
5 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
2 papers more in this group
See all 6 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.