Threshold levels of cadmium for soil respiration and growth of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and difficulties with their determination

Inconsistent results were obtained from comparative studies on the impact of increasing Cd contamination in three soils on growth of spring-wheat plantlets and soil respiration. With identical soil Cd loads, plant growth was increasingly inhibited in the following sequence: Neutral sandy hortisol (pH 7.0) < phaeosem (pH 6.9) < acidic cambisol (pH 5.6), suggesting a strong dependence on pH. In contrast, oxidation of a glucose-glutamate mixture by these soils was increasingly inhibited in the sequence: Acidic cambisol < neutral sandy hortisol < phaeosem. Inhibition of plant growth was correlated with the extractability of Cd from soils by 0.1 M CaCl2. However, comparison of dose-response curves with dose-extractability and dose-uptake curves suggested the presence of a soil factor that modified plant uptake of available Cd. This factor, possibly the concentration of antagonistic cations, was apparently also active within the plants. The inconsistency in the responses of plant growth and of soil respiration with respect to the soil Cd load was ascribed to microbiological soil properties exceeding the importance of Cd availability. Relatively high in vitro sensitivity of prokaryotes and their biochemical interdependence together with relatively high diversities of streptomycetes and fungi were paralleled by a relatively strong inhibition of soil respiration.