Cadmium dynamics in the soil-plant system were evaluated in an experiment with a Typic Hapludox (320 g kg-1 of clay) PVC columns (diameter 0.10 m, height 0.80 m) were filled with soil samples (V % elevated to 70), and the surface layer (0-0.2 m) supplemented with Cd-contaminated biosolid (sewage sludge, pH 6). The biosolid treatments were contaminated as follows (in mg kg-1): 0 (control) 2,500 of Cd, 5,000 of Cd, 2,500 of Cd + 2,500 of Pb, and 5,000 of Cd + 5,000 of Pb. The soil columns were cultivated with maize for a period of 80 days. The total Cd concentrations in the soil samples and maize shoots were determined using nitro-perchloric extraction solution. There was no percolation of Cd into the soil column, so the high amounts of cadmium remained in the surface layer. The concentration of 12 mg kg-1 of Cd in the maize shoots was not enough to cause visible toxicity symptoms in the plants. Pb, applied together with Cd, did not affect the soil-plant system.
sewage sludge; leaching; toxicity; Pb