Cadmium concentrations in Canadian durum exports decreased with the adoption of low accumulating cultivars

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) was measured in bulk exports of Canada Western Amber Durum collected from 1992–1993 to 2019–2020 shipping years. Cd concentrations decreased by more than a factor of two over this period, from the highest annual median concentration of 0.160 mg/kg in 2003–2004 to the most recent annual median of 0.070 mg/kg for 2019–2020. Over the same time period there was no trend in Cd concentrations in bulk exports of Canada Western Red Spring wheat. The decrease in durum Cd concentrations was correlated with the decrease in production of high Cd accumulating cultivars, demonstrating the success of the Canadian breeding programme at developing low Cd accumulating cultivars, the registration system and producer support in reducing the Cd content of Canada Western Amber Durum.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Heavy metal; cereal grain; monitoring; temporal trend

Acknowledgements

Eugene Gawalko, Klara Jarrin, Jason Chan, Shannon Neumann, Debbie Salazar, Nelson Pereira and Colleen Kobialka assisted with sample preparation and analysis over the period of monitoring.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).