[Extraction of Cd by ramie from soils as affected by applications of chelators and peat]

Pot experiments were performed to study the effectiveness of chelators (EDTA, citric acid) and peat in enhancing phyremediation of heavy metal Cd by ramie. The results showed that peat increased the ramie's biomass by improving soil's physical and chemical properties, and the relative yields of peat alone, chelators(EDTA, citric acid) combined with peat were 1.23, 1.13 and 1.41 respectively. So the combination of citric acid and peat was more useful for growth of the ramie. As far as improving Cd uptake was concerned, it seemed that the combination of chelators with peat significantly promoted Cd uptake by the plant, and the percent of changeable Cd in soil were 61.6% and 58.3% . In addition, it had better bioaccumulation effects to combine with chelators and peat, of which Cd bioaccumulation coefficients were 1.33 and 1.32, compared to 1.11, 1.11 and 1.05 in application of peat, EDTA and citric acid respectively. What's more, cadmium removal rates in soil were up to 1.13% and 1.22% respectively in applications of two kinds of chleators (EDTA, citric acid) combined with peat. Therefore, it had better effects of phytoremediation to accumulate more cadmium amounts by combining with citric acid and peat because of more biomass. In conclusion, the phytoremediation by ramie can be more effective when chelators and peat were combined and added to soils.