The effects of Cd, Pb, and Zn uptake on plant morphology, photosynthetic parameters, antioxidant potential, and essential oil yield and quality in Ocimum basilicum L. and Origanum vulgare L. plants were evaluated. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2014) 38: 89-102 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article A comparative study on plant morphology, gas exchange parameters, and antioxidant response of Ocimum basilicum L. and Origanum vulgare L. grown on industrially polluted soil 1 1, 2 3 Ira STANCHEVA , Maria GENEVA *, Yuliana MARKOVSKA , Nikolina TZVETKOVA , 4 5 1 Ivanka MITOVA , Milka TODOROVA , Petar PETROV 1 Department of Plant Mineral Nutrition and Water Relation, Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria 2 Department of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria 3 Department of Forestry, University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria 4 Department of Agroecology, N. Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnologies and Plant Protection, Sofia, Bulgaria 5 Laboratory Chemistry of Natural Products Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: The effects of Cd, Pb, and Zn uptake on plant morphology, photosynthetic parameters, antioxidant potential, and essential oil yield and quality in Ocimum basilicum L. and Origanum vulgare L. plants were evaluated. The plants were grown as a pot experiment in soil heavily polluted with Cd and Pb and on unpolluted soil. Both plants accumulated Cd, mainly in the roots, while Pb occurred in the oregano shoots only. The leaf blade thickness of both plants increased when grown in polluted soil. Basil plants responded to the action of heavy metals with increases in gas exchange, stomatal conductivity, and transpiration, but water-use efficiency declined. Gas exchange and transpiration were reduced in treated oregano plants, but stomatal conductivity and water-use efficiency increased significantly. In basil, the increased
