Screening and rotating winter and summer crops to effectively remediate Cd-contaminated agricultural land and ensure safe production

Highlights

	● Winter and summer crops were screened for Cadmium remediation.
	● The vegetable oil exhibited negligible levels of heavy metals.
	● Various types of crop rotation patterns were established through plant screening.
	● The restoration efficiency and economic benefits of rotation models were assessed.
	● The chicory-oil sunflower achieved simultaneous production and remediation.

Abstract

Most hyperaccumulator and economic crops do not grow year-round, leading to limited remediation efficiency. Implementing year-round rotation patterns with known and potential hyperaccumulators or economic crops can improve remediation efficiency. This study evaluated the remediation efficiency and agricultural safety of 10 winter crops and 12 summer crops in field-scale trials. Sedum alfredii Hance (SA) and Cichorium intybus L. (CI) exhibited the highest cadmium (Cd) accumulation among winter crops, reducing soil Cd content by 12.1% and 10.4%, respectively. Helianthus annuus Linn. (HA) was the most effective summer crop, reducing soil Cd content by 3.7%. The vegetable oils of all oil crops were within safe heavy metal limits, whereas the edible parts of other economic crops exceeded Cd limits. A combination of the best winter and summer crops was chosen to comprehensively evaluate the remediation efficiency and economic benefits of three rotation patterns: SA + HA, CI + HA, and Linum usitatissimum L. (LU) + HA. SA + HA and CI + HA were more effective than LU + HA, reducing soil Cd by 12.5%, 8.9%, and 3.7%, respectively. The net profits were −27591.19, 749.50, and 3309.76 US$/ha, respectively. Overall, CI + HA demonstrated the highest combined capacity (comprehensive index = 1.79) for both remediation efficiency and economic benefits, achieving safe production and effective restoration of Cd-contaminated agricultural land. However, the accumulation of heavy metals in oilseed meals warrants further attention.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Cadmium (Cd) / Cost–benefit analysis / Crop rotation / Phytoextraction / Risk assessment

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CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Wenjun Yang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Software, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft preparation. Yixuan Chen: Investigation, Formal analysis. Xiao Deng: Data curation, Writing - review and editing. Pengfi Tu: Investigation. Kefu Tan: Investigation. Zhaoyue Liu: Investigation. Qingru Zeng: Supervision, Writing - review and editing, Funding acquisition. Yang Yang: Conceptualization, Writing - review and editing, Funding acquisition.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U20A20108 and 41701366).

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-025-1958-y and is accessible for authorized users.

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