The effects and health risk assessment of cauliflower co-cropping with Sedum alfredii in cadmium contaminated vegetable field * Luyao Ma, Yaru Liu, Yingjie Wu, Qiong Wang, Zulfiqar Ali Sahito, Qiyao Zhou, Lukuan Huang, Tingqiang Li, Ying Feng * MOE Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China article info Article history: Received 17 June 2020 Received in revised form 11 October 2020 Accepted 13 October 2020 Available online 23 October 2020 Keywords: Brassica oleracea Phytoremediation Sedum alfredii Safety production Co-cropping abstract Phytoremediation coupled with co-cropping is assumed to be good for safety utilization and remediation of heavy metal contaminated farmland, which can ensure farmers’ income without increasing health risks for human. In this study, the effects on plant cadmium (Cd) accumulation and health risk of consuming the vegetable plant were compared between monoculture and co-cropping of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea) with two ecotypes of Sedum alfredii in a moderately (0.82 mg kg 1 ) Cd contaminated greenhouse vegetable field. The results showed that co-cropping with S. alfredii raised Cd concentration in edible part of cauliflower with slightly growth promotion. The health risk of consuming cauliflower to different groups of people have been evaluated by calculating Hazard Quotient (HQ) and all HQ value were less than 1.0, which indicated that eating co-cropped cauliflower would not cause health risks to adults and children. Besides, the Cd concentration of hyperaccumulating ecotype (HE) of S. alfredii was 27.3 mg kg 1 in monoculture and it increased to 51.2 mg kg 1 after co-cropping with cauliflower, sug- gesting that the co-cropping system promoted HE Cd absorption capacity. Therefore, the “Phytoex- traction Coupled with Agro-safe-production” (PCA) model of cauliflower and HE can serve as an alternative sustainable strategy in the Cd moderate polluted greenhouse. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Alarming increased concentrations of heavy metals through natural processes and human practices have caused widespread concern for food security for growing human population (Paltseva et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2015). With the growing demand of vegetable consumption, greenhouse vegetable industry has devel- oped rapidly and become an important part of vegetable produc- tion in China (Hu et al., 2014; Sawut et al., 2018). However, growing vegetables in contaminated greenhouse carries a risk of chronic toxicity of these toxic metals that potentially affect human health (Sun et al., 2013; Antoniadis et al., 2017a; Dong et al., 2019). Among heavy metals, cadmium (Cd) is highly toxic and persistent causing renal dysfunctioning even at very low levels (25 mg/kg per body weight per month was recommended by JOINT FAO/WHO EXPERT COMMITTEE) (JECFA/73/SC, 2010). Therefore, how to reduce the content of heavy metals in greenhouse vegetables and remediate the polluted soils have attracted worldwide attention. Traditional remediation technologies for Cd-contaminated soils such as physicochemical and biological practices are effective but costly (Ali et al., 2013; Zhou et al., 2019). Instead, phytoremediation is an economical and efficient approach. Sedum alfredii Hance, adapted to high Zn/Cd contaminated soils, are able to extract a large amount of metals thereby removing them from contaminated sites (Yang et al., 2004). However, phytoremediation may still experience a few limitations, e.g., most hyperaccumulators exhibit slow growth patterns with marginal economic worth (Odoh et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019). Moreover, the performance of the phytoremediation programme occasioned the halting planting of crops that would influence the economy and would not be accepted by local growers (Tang et al., 2012). Hence to achieve production while remediating the soil, the hyperaccumulators can be co-cropped with crops (Ma et al., 2020). Co-cropping was to plant two or more crops simultaneously and has been widely used in the world since it can increase crop yield and increase land utilization etc. (Brooker et al., 2015; Bargaz et al., * This paper has been recommended for acceptance by Dr. J€ org Rinklebe. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: yfeng@zju.edu.cn (Y. Feng). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Pollution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115869 0269-7491/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Environmental Pollution 268 (2021) 115869