Original Articles: 2010 Vol: 2 Issue: 5
Cadmium chloride induced alteration in growth and cadmium accumulation in Triticum aestivum (l.) var. MP LOK 1
Abstract
Cadmium is a non-essential heavy metal that can be harmful even at low concentrations in organisms. The present investigation was carried out to determine the extent of deleterious effects of cadmium chloride and tolerance level of wheat with reference to growth and accumulation of cadmium at varied levels of cadmium chloride by Triticum aestivum var. MP LOK1. The plants were treated with increasing concentrations of cadmium chloride i.e. 25, 50 and 75 ppm. Wet and dry biomass of the shoots and roots was decreased linearly with increase in concentrations of cadmium chloride to the rooting medium. It was also observed that cadmium chloride had a clear-cut negative effect on the shoot length of T. aestivum showing perfect negative correlation with the increasing concentration of cadmium chloride to the rooting medium. Similarly, reduction in root length was negatively correlated with the increasing cadmium concentration and might be due to the toxicity of cadmium. It was also accumulated in increasing level in root and shoot parts of wheat seedlings and might be associated with the low molecular weight organic acids secreted by the roots. Linear decrease in root bioconcentration (BCF) might be related with increased linear accumulation by the roots of experimental species while slight linear increase in BCF with respect to shoots of T. aestivum shows lesser transport of Cd++ from the soil medium to the shoot parts as compared to roots. The bioconcentration factor above one indicated that the accumulation of Cd++ in the root and shoot parts of T. aestivum was more than the suggested values.