Effects of Functional Vermicompost Application on Cd Migration Control and Environmental Impacts in a Soil-Celery System: A Field Study

Effects of Functional Vermicompost Application on Cd Migration Control and Environmental Impacts in a Soil-Celery System: A Field Study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effects of Functional Vermicompost Application on Cd Migration Control and Environmental Impacts in a Soil-Celery System: A Field Study Xueping Wu, Jingwen Xu, Tianwei Ji, Huanjie Huang, Mei Hao, Ying Ding, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5886350/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Cadmium (Cd) contamination in agricultural soils poses a significant threat to soil quality and food safety. In-situ stabilization is an effective technology to remediate Cd contamination in soil. This study investigated the application of two functional vermicompost (VS and VB separately derived by vermicomposting cow dung added with struvite and biochar) as amendments in soils planted with celery (Apium graveolens L.). The objective was to evaluate their effects on celery growth, Cd migration, as well as the changes in physicochemical and biological properties in soil. The results indicated that, compared to no amendment (CK) and pure vermicompost (VK), the application of VS and VB enhanced celery growth including plant height, fresh weight, and chlorophyll content, etc. Additionally, functional vermicompost effectively retarded Cd migration from soil to celery by reducing its bioavailability coefficient and biological transport coefficient. Besides, the application of VS notably increased soil parameters as available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and the activities of β-glucosidase (β-GC) and sucrase (SU), while VB significantly improved cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic matter (OM), available potassium (AK) content and the activities of urease (UA) and catalase (CAT) in soil. Furthermore, the application of functional vermicompost enhanced bacterial diversity and richness in soil, while also increasing the relative abundance of metal-resistant bacterial taxa including Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Myxococcota, etc. These findings indicate that both VS and VB have significant potential as effective remediation materials for Cd-contaminated soils, thereby supporting the development of sustainable agricultural practices and environmental restoration efforts. Functional vermicompost Soil remediation Cd bioavailability Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Full Text Additional Declarations Tables 1 to 3 are available in the Supplementary Files section. Supplementary Files Tables.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5886350","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":406160171,"identity":"b3c5f8df-2066-4e10-9982-7c66a4295980","order_by":0,"name":"Xueping Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hangzhou Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xueping","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":406160172,"identity":"90773454-00aa-43cb-b184-9f9bf2d5c743","order_by":1,"name":"Jingwen Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hangzhou Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jingwen","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":406160173,"identity":"57452941-f199-4c0b-8cef-fb827f468875","order_by":2,"name":"Tianwei Ji","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"General Station of Cultivated Land Quality and Fertilizer Management in Zhejiang Province","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tianwei","middleName":"","lastName":"Ji","suffix":""},{"id":406160174,"identity":"207015e6-b876-434c-9120-fa9f9b18c4a4","order_by":3,"name":"Huanjie Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hangzhou Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huanjie","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":406160175,"identity":"8ada0486-2bb3-46c5-a0b5-c9fabd141512","order_by":4,"name":"Mei Hao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hangzhou Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mei","middleName":"","lastName":"Hao","suffix":""},{"id":406160176,"identity":"72572d63-3771-4e17-be83-aa2863cbda43","order_by":5,"name":"Ying Ding","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hangzhou Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ying","middleName":"","lastName":"Ding","suffix":""},{"id":406160177,"identity":"d0ced605-b6e0-45f9-8989-ca8e53c7ddfb","order_by":6,"name":"Weiqin Zhu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSD+2IBgE6eFcSbJWph5SdIiP7vH8Lbtjro8gwPMB2/zMNjlEdTCOOeMsXXuGbZigwNsydY8DMnFBLUwS+Ruk85t40nccIDHTJqH4UBiAyEtbCAtlm0SQC3834jTwgPSwthmALKFjTgtEhL5ny172xISZx5mM7acY5BMWIv8jLTEGz/b6hL7jjc/vPGmwo6wFrBNYJIZRBgQo56B6EgfBaNgFIyCEQsA5982latcziEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6436-4482","institution":"Hangzhou Normal University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Weiqin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-23 08:12:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5886350/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5886350/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":74928755,"identity":"bfaaf91d-483f-4166-bf99-2b89c9d23ff4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-28 12:00:06","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":1032821,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEffects of functional vermicompost application on celery growth in Cd- contaminated soil: (a) plant height and root length, (b) fresh weight, (c) dry weight, and (d) chlorophyll content. Different letters represent statistically significant differences at P \u0026lt; 0.05.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1/1505e861064677f330a4daf3.png"},{"id":74928756,"identity":"ea1ed0f7-b411-40cd-a05c-8999f516b184","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-28 12:00:06","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":713983,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEffects of functional vermicompost application on Cd migration and inhibition in the soil-celery system: (a) soil, (b) celery. Different letters denote significant differences at P \u0026lt; 0.05.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1/1577d7bc2e1220904edb31a1.png"},{"id":74928760,"identity":"1a6ae4ce-dd87-4a9f-97e9-2e3f5337633a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-28 12:00:06","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":17847799,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEffects of functional vermicompost application on the bacterial community at the phylum level (a) and genus level (b) in Cd-contaminated soil.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1/7b6eaa8301b227e631c09fda.png"},{"id":74928761,"identity":"7c250970-3830-4bd0-8d98-ee4e355d0d82","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-28 12:00:06","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":14285829,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eRedundancy analysis (RDA) based on the (a) phylum and (b) genus levels to reveal the relationship between environmental factors and bacterial communities.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1/e19ea32bcf55386bfb865126.png"},{"id":74928765,"identity":"317941b3-403a-4331-805d-1a9afc142522","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-28 12:00:06","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":4308567,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ePearson correlation coefficients between heavy metal uptake in plants, soil heavy metal bioavailability, physicochemical characteristics, and enzyme activity.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbbreviations: Aboveground FW – fresh weight of celery stem and leaf; Aboveground Cd – Cd content in celery stem and leaf (based on dry weight); CEC – cation exchange capacity; OM – organic matter; AN – available nitrogen; AP – available phosphorus; AK – available potassium; β-GC – soil β-glucosidase; SU – soil sucrase; UA – soil urease; ACP – soil acid phosphatase; CAT – soil catalase. Red indicates positive correlation, and blue indicates negative correlation.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1/8f86fd4bea59a9720c58eaf7.png"},{"id":75044923,"identity":"00fd171a-b386-44fb-9897-79dd9728e830","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-29 20:18:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5499632,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1_covered_e0bc9992-de90-412b-aa48-bc4a6f2086b0.pdf"},{"id":74929306,"identity":"f229a5f0-c00a-40e9-a44e-617c1f9cc7cd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-28 12:08:06","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":21095,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Tables.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5886350/v1/9a206b81ae8a611d6f818eb4.docx"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eTables 1 to 3 are available in the Supplementary Files section.\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"Effects of Functional Vermicompost Application on Cd Migration Control and Environmental Impacts in a Soil-Celery System: A Field Study","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Functional vermicompost, Soil remediation, Cd bioavailability","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5886350/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5886350/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Cadmium (Cd) contamination in agricultural soils poses a significant threat to soil quality and food safety. In-situ stabilization is an effective technology to remediate Cd contamination in soil. This study investigated the application of two functional vermicompost (VS and VB separately derived by vermicomposting cow dung added with struvite and biochar) as amendments in soils planted with celery (Apium graveolens L.). The objective was to evaluate their effects on celery growth, Cd migration, as well as the changes in physicochemical and biological properties in soil. The results indicated that, compared to no amendment (CK) and pure vermicompost (VK), the application of VS and VB enhanced celery growth including plant height, fresh weight, and chlorophyll content, etc. Additionally, functional vermicompost effectively retarded Cd migration from soil to celery by reducing its bioavailability coefficient and biological transport coefficient. Besides, the application of VS notably increased soil parameters as available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and the activities of β-glucosidase (β-GC) and sucrase (SU), while VB significantly improved cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic matter (OM), available potassium (AK) content and the activities of urease (UA) and catalase (CAT) in soil. Furthermore, the application of functional vermicompost enhanced bacterial diversity and richness in soil, while also increasing the relative abundance of metal-resistant bacterial taxa including Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Myxococcota, etc. These findings indicate that both VS and VB have significant potential as effective remediation materials for Cd-contaminated soils, thereby supporting the development of sustainable agricultural practices and environmental restoration efforts.","manuscriptTitle":"Effects of Functional Vermicompost Application on Cd Migration Control and Environmental Impacts in a Soil-Celery System: A Field Study","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-01-28 12:00:01","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5886350/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"8600011a-e4e3-4a43-8eb5-3eaf871a28ab","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 28th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-01-29T20:09:29+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-01-28 12:00:01","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5886350","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5886350","identity":"rs-5886350","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}