ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Soil Processes
Biochar Mitigates Soil-Rice Accumulation of Highly Bioavailable Heavy Metals from Atmospheric Deposition
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Environmental Ecology, Jiangsu Open University, Nanjing, China
- 2School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China
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Abstract: Limited knowledge exists regarding the uptake of heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) by crops from atmospheric deposition. In this study, we examined the uptake and transport of HMs (copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, and lead) in rice plants through both root and foliar pathways, as well as the reduction of HMs in rice resulting from soil biochar applications. Our findings indicated that HMs from dust and rainfall were more mobile and bioavailable compared to those from slag, significantly affecting the soluble and exchangeable fractions of HMs in the soil, soil solution, and fractions detected by the diffusive gradients in thin films technique (DGT). Rice plants exhibited a preference for absorbing atmospherically deposited HMs through both foliar and root pathways; however, the efficiency of HM uptake and translocation rates via direct foliar uptake was lower than that of root uptake from the soil. The application of biochar was found to decrease HMs (Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd) concentrations in the soil mobile fractions, soil solutions, and DGT extractions, with the exception of As, demonstrating an effective method to mitigate HM accumulation in rice. This study highlights the high risk of crop contamination in areas with high atmospheric HM loads and suggests that reducing atmospheric HM deposition and implementing soil remediation can mitigate ecological risks.
Keywords: simulation experiment, Biochar application, rice accumulation, node, thin films technique
Received: 29 Oct 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Du, Sun and Ji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Buyun Du
Ting Sun
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