No abstract

The contamination of soils and water as a result of human actions has been increasingly frequent in the world, the cadmium element the as a promising contaminant of these environments. This element affects the growth and development of vegetables.The objective of the study was to evaluate the growth and concentration of macro and micronutrients in the different organs young plants of Virola surinamensis exposed to Cd. The Cd significantly affected the growth of V. surinamensis reducing the height, stem diameter and biomass production. The Cd influenced negatively Fe, Mg, Ca, N, P and K, especially in the root. The Zn increased in the roots and leaves, while Mn reduced in the root and increased in the leaves of the plants on exposure to Cd. The increase of Zn and Mn in the leaves may have been a strategy to maintain the stability and protection of the photosynthetic apparatus of the plant. the research concluded that cadmium affects the nutritional relationship of this vegetable, however, we could observe that the influence of metal depends on the species being studied, the time of exposure to the metal and the amount of this metal.