Alleviation of Cadmium Toxicity in Rice by Utilization of Organic Manures

The non-essential toxic element cadmium (Cd) is non-biodegradable and easily enter into food chain through plant accumulation that poses serious threat to food safety. Considering the issue a pot experiment was conducted during aman season 2018, to understand the effect of organic amendment on rice (BRRI dhan62) in reducing Cd toxicity. This experiment was composed of two factors, Factor A: Different levels of Cd stress as 0, 10, 25 mg CdCl 2 kg−1 soil and Factor B: Different types of organic amendment such as no organic amendment, cowdung, wood ash and vermicompost @ 0, 5, 2.5 and 4 t ha−1. Results revealed that exposure of Cd in rice decreased plant growth, yield and yield contributing attributes. Grain yield decreased by 22 and 35% by exposure of 10 and 25 mg CdCl 2 kg−1 soil, respectively, compared with control. Cadmium exposure also increased Cd accumulation in rice grain and it was higher in unhusked grain than husked grain. Application of different organic manures increased growth and yield of rice under Cd stress conditions. Organic amendment by vermicompost confirmed highest grain (9.77 g pot−1) and straw (44.15 g pot−1) yield. In case of combined effect vermicompost demonstrated highest grain and straw yield in all stresses. Upon exposure to 10 and 25 mg CdCl2 kg−1 soil, vermicompost increased grain yield by 27.41 and 47.56% compared with Cd stress alone. Accumulation of Cd also declined with all organic amendment. So, it might be concluded that, the growth and yield of rice decreased with the increasing dose of Cd and vermicompost can be a reasonable approach to reduce the Cd stress in rice. Bangladesh Agron. J. 2026, 29(1): 32-42