Cadmium uptake by maize from polluted river sediments covered with a clean top layer of variable thickness is discussed in relation to root distribution. Two pathways for uptake are distinguished: roots penetrating the contaminated layer or contaminants moving into the root zone. Relative Cd uptake proved to be roughly proportional to the fraction of total root length found in the contaminated layer. A deeper water table induced a deeper root development and more Cd uptake for a given thickness of clean topsoil. A model based on exponential decrease of root length density with depth is acceptable as first approximation only. Little or no evidence was found for contaminants moving into the root zone during the ten years of the experiment.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02413015Pontuação Altmetric:
Dimensões Contagem de citações:
Ano de publicação
1995
Autores
van Driel W; Brouwer G; Schuurmans W; van Noordwijk, M.
Idioma
English
Palavras-chave
cadmium, roots, soil pollution, zea mays
Geográfico
Netherlands
