Alleviation of cadmium toxicity on seed germination and physiological activities of marrow seedlings

摘要

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most important metals in terms of food-chain contamination, because it is readily taken up by the cells of different plant species (Rodriguez-Serrano et al 2009). Cadmium has been shown to cause many morphological, physiological, biochemical and structural changes in plants (El-Shora era/ 2011). However, the mechanisms involved in its toxicity as well as the cell response against the metal have not been well established. The toxicity of Cd on both germination of marrow (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds and the physiological activities of seedlings was investigated in the present study.