Cadmium accumulation and allocation in different cacao cultivars

Cadmium isotope fractionation in the soil – cacao systems of Ecuador: a pilot field study

“…One study found that cultivars primarily differ in the efficiency of Cd translocation from shoots to beans, due to differences in the efficiency of Cd transfer from xylem to phloem. 25 In contrast, a second study revealed clear cultivar-related differences in soil to shoot translocation of Cd, that were attributed to differential Cd uptake and/or retention in the roots. 30 There are only few previous Cd isotope investigations of plants and soilplant systems.…”

“…16,[19][20][21][22][23][24] It has also been proposed that Cd can be directly loaded from stems and branches into cacao beans without passing through leaves and that Cd is relocated into developing beans from pod husks. 25 Previous studies on annual crops such as barley, potatoes and rice revealed clear cultivar-specic differences in Cd uptake and particularly root to shoot translocation, whereby the latter appears to be governed by the ability of plants to sequester Cd in roots with the aid of transporter proteins. [26][27][28][29] Two recent investigations on cacao also revealed cultivar-specic differences in Cd handling but with contrasting results.…”

“…In particular, recent publications demonstrated that wheat and barley display similar trends of Cd isotope fractionation 33 and these differ signicantly from the isotope systematics observed for Cdtolerant and accumulator cultivars. 36 As various genotypes of cacao differ in the extent to which Cd is enriched in the plants relative to soil and in how Cd is partitioned within the plants, 7,25,30 such genotypes might also exhibit distinct Cd isotope signatures as a consequence of distinct pathways for Cd uptake, transport and sequestration.…”

Sources of Cd in Cocoa Crop Soils of Santander, Colombia

“…This is of great concern for colombian producers since cacao in the area of Santader present high Cd levels 1 that would hindering export. The high content of Cd in these the grains of cacao is direcly linked to high concentrations of Cd in soils 2 .…”

“…In order to determine the origin of the Cd in soils we analized, 23 soils, 12 source rocks and 2 fertilizer (inorganic and organic) samples collected at differet farms in the study area using XRF. We also dtermined soil pH and organic matter and carbonate content all of which have been linked to Cd content in soils 2 . Petrological analysis of rocks and soil was performed to determine the mineral origin of the metal.…”