Effect of Calcium on Uptake of Cadmium in Maize Seedlings

Habibe Zare¹* and Sasan Mohsenzadeh²

¹Department of Biology, Payam Noor University of Busher, Busher (Iran).

²Department of Biology, Shiraz University, Shiraz - 714 54 (Iran)

ABSTRACT: Cadmium is the highest heavy metal in terms of damage to plant growth. Its toxicity and alleviation by calcium in 1-week-old maize seedlings were studied. The seedlings were treated with cadmium at concentrations of 100 μM for six days. Application of 10 and 20 μM calcium was able to alleviate cadmium toxicity through some mechanisms. The alleviatation showed by calcium adding to cadmium treatment through declining in lipid peroxidation, anthocyanin concentration, proline content and cadmium uptake and rising in leaf chlorophyll and cartenoid compared to cadmium treatment, significantly.

KEYWORDS: Cadmium toxicity; Calcium alleviation; Cation uptake; Lipid peroxidation; Anthocyanin

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