Abstract: The paper aims to provide technical support for planting structure adjustment of sweet potato in mild paddy cadmium (Cd) pollution areas. 20 sweet potato cultivars were used as the materials. The arid land plot was designated and conducted to study the growth and development of sweet potato in the mild paddy cadmium (Cd) pollution area, and the difference of Cd accumulation and translocation. The results showed that there were differences in vine length, stem diameter, biomass, yield as well as Cd accumulation and translocation ability of stem & leaf and root among the 20 sweet potato cultivars. The Cd contents in stem & leaf of 3 cultivars exceeded the pollution-free vegetable quality standard (<0.05 mg/kg). The Cd contents in stem & leaf and root of all the cultivars conformed to the national standard of the food pollutant limit (<0.1 mg/kg). The range of the Cd accumulation coefficient in stem & leaf and root was 0.225- 1.222 and 0.022- 0.160, respectively. And the transferring coefficients range was 0.067-0.511. It indicates that sweet potato has certain absorptive capacity to soil Cd, but the translocation ability of Cd from stem & leaf to root is weak.‘QS816’, Xiang 20’,‘Xiang 108’and‘G87’can be used as the excellent cultivars in the mild paddy cadmium pollution areas, and have potential application value in adjusting the planting structure.