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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/FWSH/25
Soil cadmium contamination reduce fertilizer values and increase associated health
risks after application of anaerobic digestate to various soil types

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2
3
Ghulam Mustafa Shah 1,2* , Umer Farooq , Zunaira Shabbir , Masood Iqbal Awan , Hafiz Faiq
2 1* 1
Bakhat , Jianbin Guo , Renjie Dong
1 College of Engineering (Key Laboratory for Clean Renewable Energy Utilization
Technology, Ministry of Agriculture), China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR
China
2 Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari campus,
Vehari 61100, Pakistan
3 Department of Agronomy, Sub-Campus Depalpur, Okara, University of Agriculture
Faisalabad

Correspondence: ghulammustafashah@ciitvehari.edu.pk
Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) contamination has become a major problem in soil due to its negative effects
on the ecosystems. When Cd is present in soil, it can be harmful to soil microbes and affects
their associated activities such as mineralization of nitrogen (N) and decomposition of added
carbon-based material (organic matter) and effects on plant growth and physiology. Once
entered in plants, Cd can pose health risk via dietary intake of the vegetables. The objective of
this research was to access the consequences of soil Cd contaminations on fertilizer value and
associated health risks after application of biogas residues (BGR) to various soil types. To
explore this objective, a pot experiment was conducted in which three soil types (clay loam,
sandy loam and sandy clay loam) treated with BGR, each contaminated with three levels of Cd
(20, 40 and 60 ppm). All the pots were sown with spinach. Results revealed that DM yield and
N uptake improved considerably after soil addition of BGR, irrespective to the soil types. The
Cd contamination decreased the DM yield and N recovery from BGR by Cd60>Cd40>Cd20.
Further, organic N mineralization from BGR reduced in Cd contaminated soils. Among the soil
types, values of all the above-mentioned parameters were greatest in sandy loam and least in
case of clay loam soil. Calculation of human health associated risks via dietary intake of
spinach revealed that it is unsafe to consume spinach grown in Cd contaminated soil with or
without BGR. HRI values for Cd treatments were >1 indicating possible health risks for human.
Among the soil types, values of DIM, and HRI were least in clay soil and highest in sandy loam
soil. Application of BGR increased values of these parameters, irrespective to the soil types.
However, sole application of BGR resulted HRI values <1 which is under safe limits. These
findings lead us to conclude that soil Cd contamination reduce fertilizer value and pose health
risks for human.

Key words: Soil Cd Contamination, Biogas residues, Nitrogen utilization, Health risk
assessment

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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