Cadmium is one of the most toxic heavy metals and affects all viable cells, even at low concentrations. It is introduced to agricultural soils mainly by phosphate fertilisers and causes many toxic symptoms in cells. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2013) 37: 950-955 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Cadmium detoxification in Populus × canescens 1 2 3 4 5 5, Hui-Ping DAI , Chan-Juan SHAN , Genliang JIA , Chao LU , Tu-Xi YANG , An-Zhi WEI * College of Biological Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong, Shaanxi, . China 2 Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, . China 3 College of Science, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, . China 4 College of Agronomy, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, . China 5 College of Forestry, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, . China 1 Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Cadmium is one of the most toxic heavy metals and affects all viable cells, even at low concentrations. It is introduced to agricultural soils mainly by phosphate fertilisers and causes many toxic symptoms in cells. Phytochelatins (PCs) are heavy metalbinding peptides that play an important role in sequestration and detoxification of heavy metals in plants. In this study, after a 12week cultivation, the plants were treated with 5 CdSO4·7 H2O concentrations of 0 (control), 10, 30, 50, and 70 µM for 28 days. The effects of Cd on growth and on glutathione (GSH) and PC contents were investigated in the roots, bark, wood, and leaves of Populus × canescens. The accumulation of Cd increased with external Cd concentrations. The accumulation of Cd in roots was higher than that in bark, wood, and leaves. Dry mass production of different tissues decreased under Cd treatment, especially for leaves. In roots, bark, wood, and leaves, exposure to Cd caused an appreciable decline in GSH contents and an increase in PC synthesis proportional to Cd concentrations in the growth medium. At the same Cd concentration, PC .
