Table 3 Positive and negative effects caused by fertilizer types on Fe/Cd accumulation in rice

Nitrogen (NH⁴⁺/NO³⁻)

Increased YSL protein synthesis and nitrogenous compounds formation for Fe transport

Decreased soil pH and membrane depolarization by NH⁴⁺ application

Zaccheo et al. 2006;

Wangstrand et al. 2007;

Xie et al. 2009;

Sarwar et al. 2010;

Slamet-Loedin et al. 2015;

Yang et al. 2016b

Increased soluble protein content reduce mobility of Cd

Up-regulated expression of Fe/Cd co-transporters by excess NO³⁻ application

Higher antioxidase activity by NH⁴⁺ application reduce Cd toxicity

High soil pH and membrane polarization by NO³⁻ application produce Cd detoxcification

Phosphorus

Insoluble Cd formation in soil

Limited source of P fertilizer

Cordell et al. 2009;

Wang et al. 2009;

Sarwar et al. 2010

GSH biosynthesis participation

Decreased soil pH enhance solubility of Cd

Increased antioxidase activity by P application

Iron

Compete with Cd for the same binding site under anaerobic conditions

Increased Cd concentration by some Fe²⁺ fertilizers (e.g. FeSO₄) application

Sharma et al. 2004;

Shao et al. 2008;

Liu et al. 2008;

Rizwan et al. 2016

Alleviate oxidative stress caused by Cd

Iron plague formation

Zinc

Compete with Cd for the same transporters

Simultaneous Zn/Cd absorption by root cells

Smilde et al. 1992;

Aravind et al. 2009;

Sarwar et al. 2010;

Fahad et al. 2015;

Rizwan et al. 2016

Alleviate oxidative stress caused by Cd

Enhanced Cd concentration caused by high level of Zn

Silicon

Increased soil pH reduce mobility of Cd

Sarwar et al. 2010;

Wang et al. 2015;

Rizwan et al. 2016

Si-Cd complexes formation

Enhanced antioxidase activity

Enhanced Fe level

Sulfur

Insoluble CdS formation reduce mobility of Cd

Increased soil pH enhance Cd concentration and mobility

Hassan et al. 2005;

Rehman et al. 2015

GSH biosynthesis participation

Iron plague formation