Effects of Microbial Fertilizer Application on Cadmium-Contaminated Soil Remediation and Cadmium Content in Rice under Chemical Fertilizer Reduction Combined with Organic Fertilizer
Cheng Qu1,2, Fen Liu3, Dongping Yao1, Zhijun Li1, Yuanhuan Li1, Tangxing Liu1, Yue Wang2, Lili Yang1,*
1 College of Plant Science and Technology, Hunan Biological Electromechanical Vocational Technical College, Changsha, China
2 College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
3 College of Agriculture and Horticulture, Huaihua Vocational and Technical College, Huaihua, China
* Corresponding Author: Lili Yang. Email: 
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Crop Stress Mitigation for Enhanced Productivity and Quality)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2026.082659
Received 19 March 2026; Accepted 08 June 2026; Published online 24 June 2026
Abstract
To clarify the remediation effect of microbial inoculant fertilizer on cadmium (Cd) pollution following the application of pig manure organic fertilizer, a field experiment was conducted. No fertilization (CK1) and conventional fertilization (CK2) were used as controls. The treatments included conventional fertilization + pig manure organic fertilizer (PM, 2800 kg/hm
2) and four levels of microbial inoculant fertilizer (7.5, 15, 22.5, 30 L/hm
2) combined with the PM treatment. The study compared the effects of different treatments on rice economic traits, yield, Cd content in grains and plants, soil available Cd, total Cd, soil pH, and soil enzyme activities. The results showed that conventional fertilization + pig manure organic fertilizer significantly increased the effective panicle number per hectare and yield of rice. However, it concurrently led to a significant increase in rice grain Cd content, soil available Cd, and total Cd by 26.08%, 13.35%, and 16.67%, respectively. Membership function analysis for comprehensive evaluation of economic traits and quality indicated that the treatment with 70% chemical fertilizer + pig manure organic fertilizer received the highest score. Compared with the application of pig manure organic fertilizer alone, the combined application of microbial inoculant fertilizer and pig manure organic fertilizer reduced rice grain Cd content, plant Cd content, total soil Cd, and available Cd by 20.50%~28.42%, 4.48%~12.54%, 4.98%~10.25%, and 43.28%~49.59%, respectively. Further analysis revealed that the combined application increased soil pH by 0.10~0.24 units, and enhanced the activities of soil sucrase, catalase, urease, and alkaline phosphatase by 7.49%~17.85%, 4.19%~10.18%, 0.39%~15.69%, and 16.35%~48.08%, respectively. Based on the comprehensive score from principal component analysis, the treatment with microbial inoculant fertilizer at 15 L/hm
2 + pig manure organic fertilizer + 70% chemical fertilizer achieved the highest score. Considering the production economic value, the fertilization model of microbial inoculant fertilizer at 15 L/hm
2 + pig manure organic fertilizer + 70% chemical fertilizer is recommended for application and promotion in local production.
Keywords
Cadmium; microbial inoculant fertilizer; pig manure organic fertilizer; availability
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