Accumulation of Cd by three forage mulberry (Morus atropurpurea Roxb.) cultivars in heavy metal-polluted farmland: a field experiment.

A 3-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the accumulation ability of 3 forage mulberry (Morus atropurpurea Roxb.) varieties (Guisangyou 62, Guisangyou 12, Yuesang 11) for Cadmium (Cd). The results showed that the shoot biomass of forage mulberry could reach to 64.51~69.58 t/ha in 2018. The total production of Guisangyou 12 was the highest among the tested 3 cultivars in each year. However, the biomass of the 3 varieties displayed without significant differences at every sampling time. In addition, the concentrations of Cd in the roots of the 3 mulberry cultivars were higher than those in the corresponding shoots in 2018. But in 2019, the Cd content in roots was near to that of shoots. The Cd concentrations in the roots of the forage mulberry showed Guisangyou 62 > Yuesang 11 > Guisangyou 12. And the Cd concentrations in shoots of all the 3 tested forage mulberry varieties were less than 1 mg/kg, meeting the hygienical standard for feeds (China). Though the 3 forage mulberry varieties were not hyperaccumulators for Cd, they could be used as alternative plants to make use of the Cd-polluted (< 1.0 mg/kg) paddy soils.