Abstract:
Present work was carried out in the net house of Department of soil science, Shere-Bangla
Agricultural
University, Dhaka, Bangladesh in order to study the effect
of zeolite on Cd uptake in red amaranth plant as well as the effect of zeolite on soil
health. The experiment was conducted in Completely randomized design (CRD)
with four replications. Five levels of zeolite (Control, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% of soil
weight) in combination with two levels of Cd (Control and 15 ppm Cd) were used
as treatment. In case of stem, leaf and root uptake, highest Cd concentrations
(36.06, 65.46 and 46.99 ppm Cd respectively) were found in treatment 2 (Control
zeolite + 15 ppm Cd), where no zeolite and maximum Cd was applied. On the
other hand, maximum Cd remediation occurred in treatment 10 where maximum
zeolite was applied (Zeolite @4% of soil weight + 15 ppm Cd). Higher
concentrations of total Cd in bulk and rhizosphere soil were found in the
treatments where higher rates of zeolite were applied. However, concentrations of
bio-available Cd got lowered gradually in soils with higher rates of zeolite
application. This indicates that more Cd was successfully immobilized by zeolite.
Zeolite application also positively influenced the soil properties such as bulk
density, particle density, soil pH and soil electrical conductivity. Therefore, it can
be concluded that zeolite can be used as an effective tool for Cd remediation as
well as a good soil amendment.
