On a vineyard plot with added cadmium, grapevines grown with the cadmium hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum (black nightshade) between the rows had 15% less cadmium in ripe berries than vines grown alone. Berries from both systems were under China’s 0.05 mg/kg limit for fresh fruit. The authors call the single-season results preliminary.
Key numbers
- Ripe berries (82 days after flowering), fresh weight: 0.046 mg/kg under monoculture and 0.039 mg/kg with intercropping, a 15.22% reduction (p. 13; Figure 7, p. 11).
- Reductions at 68, 75 and 82 days after flowering were 13.73%, 21.57% and 15.22%; no difference at 54 and 61 days (p. 10).
- Soil: total cadmium (Cd) 1.49 mg/kg (available Cd 0.21 mg/kg) after a 2024 cadmium nitrate treatment, above China’s 0.3 mg/kg agricultural soil risk screening value; pH 7.65 (pp. 2, 13).
- Comparison limit cited by the authors: GB 2762-2025, Cd in fresh fruit 0.05 mg/kg (p. 13).
- Intercropping also raised soluble solids by 7.88% and total soluble sugars by 3.60% at maturity (Abstract).
Methods (brief)
Frozen whole berries ground in liquid nitrogen, HNO3-HClO4 (9:1) digestion, graphite furnace AAS (PerkinElmer PinAAcle 900H). LOD 0.001 mg/kg and LOQ 0.003 mg/kg for Cd; replicate RSD under 5%; spike recovery 92% (p. 4). Three replicate plots per treatment.
Limitations: one cultivar, one site, one season, and the plot was deliberately contaminated, so the absolute berry values do not describe commercial grapes. No certified reference material is reported.
Implications
Certification: A field mitigation result for cadmium in grapes, not occurrence data.
Courses: An example of phytoremediation by intercropping that also measures the edible crop.
App: Not a basis for market grape estimates.
Microbiome: Not applicable.
Related evidence
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