The use of low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs) for the phytoremediation of heavy metals has become a promising technique. We chose five kinds of organic acids (oxalic acid (OA), acetic acid (AA), tartaric acid (TA), malic acid (MA), and citric acid (CA)) with six application rates (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 mmol/kg) and planted sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) in Cd-polluted soil to study the efficiency of the phytoremediation of Cd and the degree of Cd toxicity to plants. Treatment with no acid application served as the control (CK). We analyzed the plant height dry matter and the Cd and nonprotein sulfhydryl (NPT) contents in the soil and plant tissues. OA, AA, TA, MA, and CA increased plant heights by 17.6–47.40%, 21.25–39.17%, 12.5–35.52, 5.10–30.50%, and 16.15–49.17%, respectively; shoot biomass of the sunflowers was increased except with MA. NPT decreased under LMWOA application, which, in the roots, increased with the increase in root Cd under LMWOA treatment; however, there was no obvious relationship in the stems and leaves. The composition of Cd in the soil changed significantly under the LMWOA treatments compared to the CK, and the changes in carbonate Cd and Fe-Mn oxide Cd were the most prominent. The plant Cd accumulation of OA, AA, TA, MA, and CA increased by 43.31%, 55.25%, 48.69%, 0.52%, and 32.94%, respectively, and the increase in root Cd content and shoot dry matter quality promoted the increase in Cd accumulation. The LMWOAs were more likely to affect the phytoremediation of Cd by changing total P (TP) rather than total N (TN).

Despite the known influence of groundwater conditions and nitrogen application on crop growth and the soil microenvironment, less information is available on the influence of groundwater depth and nitrogen application amount on the movement and accumulation of soil water and residual nitrate in deep soil in summer maize–winter wheat rotation systems. Therefore, a large lysimeter experiment was conducted to examine how groundwater depth and nitrogen application amount influence the transport and accumulation of soil water and nitrate in the summer maize (Zea mays L.)–winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation system. The results showed that nitrogen reduction increased soil water storage both in the summer maize and winter wheat fields. The residual soil nitrate accumulation in the entire soil profile of summer maize and winter wheat under deeper groundwater depth treatment was higher than that of shallow groundwater depth treatment. Hence, the deeper the groundwater depth, the longer the nitrate transport path, and the nitrate that would have entered the groundwater accumulates in deep soil. The residual soil nitrate accumulation in the whole soil profile of winter wheat was 76.05–130.11 kg ha⁻¹ higher than that of summer maize. Structural equation models (SEMs) showed that the nitrogen application amount not only exhibited a directly positive effect on the residual soil nitrate accumulation but also indirectly influenced it by regulating total soil nitrogen; groundwater depth only exhibited a directly negative effect on residual soil nitrate accumulation; and soil depth had an indirect positive effect on residual soil nitrate accumulation through the regulation of soil water storage. Together, our findings prove that groundwater depth and nitrogen application amount jointly regulate the residual soil nitrate accumulation in agricultural soil rotated with winter wheat and summer maize. Therefore, in formulating a fertilization strategy for regional agricultural green development, it is necessary to consider the fertilizer application amount rate and the groundwater depth.

Despite the known influence of nitrogen fertilization and groundwater conditions on soil microbial communities, the effects of their interactions on bacterial composition of denitrifier communities have been rarely quantified. Therefore, a large lysimeter experiment was conducted to examine how and to what extent groundwater table changes and reduced nitrogen application would influence the bacterial composition of nirK-type and nirS-type genes. The bacterial composition of nirK-type and nirS-type genes were compared at two levels of N input and three groundwater table levels. Our results demonstrated that depression of groundwater table, reduced nitrogen application and their interactions would lead to drastic shifts in the bacterial composition of nirS-type and nirK-type genes. Structural equation models (SEMs) indicated that depression of groundwater table and reduced nitrogen application not only directly altered the species composition of denitrifier bacterial communities, but also indirectly influenced them through regulating soil nutrient and salinity. Furthermore, the variation in soil NO₃⁻–N and electrical conductivity caused by depression of groundwater table and reduced nitrogen application played the most important role in altering the community composition of denitrifier bacterial communities. Together, our findings provide first-hand evidence that depression of groundwater table and reduced nitrogen application jointly regulate the species composition of denitrifier bacterial communities in agricultural soil. We highlight that local environmental conditions such as groundwater table and soil attributes should be taken into account to enrich our knowledge of the impact of nitrogen fertilization on soil denitrifier bacterial communities, or even biogeochemical cycles.

The exogenous application of oxalic acid is a potential approach to amplifying phytoremediation performance on Cd-contaminated soils. However, few studies explore the optimal oxalic acid application regime from a perspective of coupling different concentrations and timings to maximize Cd removal rate. Given this, a pot experiment was conducted using oil sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) as the test plant. Oxalic acid was added to the pots at concentrations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 mmol/kg at 20, 30, 40, and 50 days after emergence. A control (CK) without exogenous oxalic acid was also included. We examined the discrepancies in various soil Cd forms, sunflower height, plant non-protein thiol (NPT) levels, and soil Cd remediation efficiency under different oxalic acid application regimes. The results showed that applying oxalic acid at a concentration of 4 mmol/kg reduced the proportion of Fe-Mn oxide Cd and organic Cd compared to the control (CK), while increased the proportion of available Cd. The optimal application time is 30 or 40 days after emergence. The addition of exogenous oxalic acid promoted the growth of sunflowers, with the greatest increase in plant height observed when 4 mmol/kg oxalic acid was applied at 30 days after emergence. Exogenous oxalic acid enhanced the absorption of Cd by sunflower roots, with the total Cd accumulation in roots, stems, and leaves being higher than in the control (CK). When 4 mmol/kg oxalic acid was applied at 30 days after emergence, the total Cd accumulation in roots, stems, and leaves was highest. Under different application times and concentration levels of oxalic acid, Cd accumulation was highest in roots, followed by leaves, with stems showing the lowest accumulation. The NPT content in each part is as follows: root > stem > leaf. Applying 5 mmol/kg oxalic acid after 30 days of sunflower emergence resulted in relatively higher total NPT content in roots, stems, and leaves compared to the control (CK). The TOPSIS model was used for comprehensive evaluation, which showed that 4 mmol/kg oxalic acid application at 30 days after emergence could be used as the optimal oxalic acid application regime for phytoremediation. These findings indicate that the addition of oxalic acid effectively promoted the absorption of Cd by sunflower and increased the efficiency of Cd removal from the rhizosphere soil, with the optimal removal of soil Cd achieved by applying oxalic acid at a concentration of 4 mmol/kg 30 days after the emergence of oilseed sunflower seedlings.

Effects of Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae inoculation on soil bacterial community and rice yield under combined irrigation with reclaimed and fresh water

A portable spectral detector for water quality assessment was developed, utilizing potassium nitrate and ammonium chloride standard solutions as the subjects of investigation. By preparing solutions with differing concentrations, spectral data ranging from 254 to 1275 nm was collected and subsequently preprocessed using methods such as multiple scattering correction (MSC), Savitzky–Golay filtering (SG), and standardization (SS). Estimation models were constructed employing modeling algorithms including Support Vector Machine-Multilayer Perceptron (SVM-MLP), Support Vector Regression (SVR), random forest (RF), RF-Lasso, and partial least squares regression (PLSR). The research revealed that the primary variation bands for NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ are concentrated within the 254–550 nm and 950–1275 nm ranges, respectively. For predicting ammonium chloride, the optimal model was found to be the SVM-MLP model, which utilized spectral data reduced to 400 feature bands after SS processing, achieving R² and RMSE of 0.8876 and 0.0883, respectively. For predicting potassium nitrate, the optimal model was the 1D Convolutional Neural Network (1DCNN) model applied to the full band of spectral data after SS processing, with R² and RMSE of 0.7758 and 0.1469, respectively. This study offers both theoretical and technical support for the practical implementation of spectral technology in rapid water quality monitoring.