Assessment of cadmium uptake and nutrient content in sunflower plants grown under Cd stress

Abstract

Sunflower plants were grown on soil contaminated with several levels of Cd (from 0.3 to 15 mg Cd kg/soil). Cd and nutrient (Cu, Zn, Fe, Ca, K, Mg) contents were evaluated in root and aboveground biomass during the vegetative growth period (from the emergence of the cotyledon leaves to the flower bud phase). An overall increase of Cd content was found in the plants during the growing cycle. Significant interactions were found between Cd contamination levels and phenological stages for Cu, Fe, Ca and Mg content in the whole plant. Cd levels involved significant increases of such nutrients only at the flower bud phase. At this stage, significant interactions between Cd levels in soil and plant portions (root and shoot) were found only for micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe). The translocation of micronutrients from root to the shoot was negatively affected by Cd, which probably interferes with the mechanisms of the element transport in the plant. Root stored about 70% of the total Cd and showed greater imbalance in nutrient content compared to the aboveground portion. Cadmium affects plant nutritive status in a different way depending on Cd contamination level, nutrient considered, plant portion and phenological stage.

Fitorremediación en suelos contaminados con Cd usando girasol (Helianthus annuus L. var. Sunbright)

“…En promedio, la extracción de este metal en raíz para todos los tratamientos (sin incluir el control) fue de 28.6 % del total de extracción. Sin embargo, esto difiere con el estudio de Rivelli et al (2014), pues los autores encontraron que la raíz extrajo en promedio cerca del 70 % de Cd. Esta diferencia se explicaría debido a que la variedad sembrada por los autores obtuvo una mayor producción de materia seca en raíz.…”

Changes in the photosynthetic response of lettuce exposed to toxic element multicontamination under hydroponic conditions

“…In our case, the contaminated solution had several-fold higher concentrations of Zn, in addition to Cd. There is an antagonistic relationship between Cd and Zn (Rivelli et al 2014). Increased Zn content in plants may reduce Table 1.…”

Nitric oxide promotes adventitious root formation in cucumber under cadmium stress through improving antioxidant system, regulating glycolysis pathway and polyamine homeostasis

“…Cadmium (Cd), a widely spread heavy metal, is easily absorbed by plant roots, thus enters the food chain, and eventually poses a substantial threat to human health ( Falco et al., 2005 ; Ahmad et al., 2016a ; Ahmad et al., 2016b ). It has been discovered that Cd, as a non-essential element for plant growth and development, disturbs nutrient and water uptake/transport ( Rivelli et al., 2014 ; Hafsi et al., 2022 ). Moreover, Cd induces a number of stress responses in plants including ion balance changes ( Kucerova et al., 2020 ; Hafsi et al., 2022 ), change in antioxidant enzymes activities ( Guo et al., 2019 ), photosynthesis inhibition ( Rizwan et al., 2018 ), and changes in the expression of related genes and proteins ( Muhammad et al., 2019 ; Manara et al., 2020 ).…”