Behaviors of heavy metal(loid)s in a cocontaminated alkaline paddy soil throughout the growth period of rice

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate uptake of cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) by rice from a lime-treated paddy soil contaminated with the three pollutants. The results showed that the content of Cd in the total rice plants decreased as the plant grew, whereas the As and Sb contents increased steadily. The concentration of As in the pore water showed steady increase throughout the growth period, likely due to the reductive dissolution of iron (Fe)-bearing minerals and the reduction of As(V). In contrast, the concentrations of Cd and Sb in the pore water increased initially, likely attributable to the reductive dissolution of Fe-bearing minerals, and then decreased likely due to their adsorptions onto carbonate and Fe sulfides, the reduction of Sb(V), and the formation of CdS. A random forest model was used to quantitatively evaluate the relative contributions of environmental factors to the accumulation of Cd, As, and Sb in the rice plants. The results suggest that sulfides produced through sulfate reduction and the formation of Cd forms associated with sulfur (S) might significantly affected the Cd content in the rice plants. In addition, the dissolved Fe species, the oxidation–reduction potential, and the abundance of the As(V)-respiring gene were major contributors to the As content in the rice plants, suggesting the important role of the reduction of Fe-bearing minerals and As(V). The results also showed that the Sb content in the rice plants was correlated with Fe species, Sb(V) reduction, and acid volatile S. The environmental behaviors of Cd, As, and Sb in the cocontaminated paddy soil exhibited significant differences. Such differences should be considered in remedy of soils contaminated with multiple heavy metals and metalloids.