Phytoremediation coupled with co-cropping is assumed to be good for safety utilization and remediationof heavy metal contaminated farmland, which can ensure farmers’ income without increasing healthrisks for human. In this study, the effects on plant cadmium (Cd) accumulation and health risk ofconsuming 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 kg1) Cd contaminatedgreenhouse vegetable field. The results showed that co-cropping with S. alfredii raised Cd concentrationin edible part of cauliflower with slightly growth promotion. The health risk of consuming cauliflower todifferent groups of people have been evaluated by calculating Hazard Quotient (HQ) and all HQ valuewere less than 1.0, which indicated that eating co-cropped cauliflower would not cause health risks toadults and children. Besides, the Cd concentration of hyperaccumulating ecotype (HE) of S. alfredii was27.3 mg kg1 in monoculture and it increased to 51.2 mg kg1 after co-cropping with cauliflower, suggestingthat the co-cropping system promoted HE Cd absorption capacity. Therefore, the “PhytoextractionCoupled with Agro-safe-production” (PCA) model of cauliflower and HE can serve as analternative sustainable strategy in the Cd moderate polluted greenhouse.© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Fig. 1. The coordinate and the surrounding environment of the test site shown on Google Maps.