Effect of Cadmium (Cd) stress on the germination and early seedling growth of Mustard seeds (Brassica campestris L.): deducing a dose - response relationship

Abstract

Due to severe heavy nmetals contamination in agricultural soil worldwide, several studies specifically focused on the development of metal accumulating crop plants, which can maintain their optimum growth and production in contaminated soil. Mustard plants (Brassica campestris L.) are in generally considered as the hyper accumulator, can be grown advantageously for phytoremediation of the lands contaminated by industrial wastes. Therefore, the effect of varied cadmium (Cd) concentrations on the germination and initial growth of mustard seeds were investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. Results showed a differential response of mustard seeds under varied Cd concentrations. The lower levels of Cd affected the mustard seeds positively or neutrally; but the higher Cd levels showed significant adverse effect. We conclude that as mu_tard being a hyper-accumulator of several metals can only be grown at lower Cd levels for their optimum performance.