Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most hazardous heavy metals, which has significant adverse biological effects to humans and other living organisms. It makes the people pay much more attention to the toxic effects of Cd on plants and environment. Therefore, in the present study, the growth characteristics and antioxidative capacity of Weigela flor-ida'Red Prince5 were studied. When the concentration of Cd in the medium was 0.5 and 2.5 mg/L, the height of plant increased significantly by 7.37 and 11.69, and with the increase of Cd concentrations, the height of plant began to decrease significantly compared with the control (p<0.05). It was indicated that low concentration Cd had a significant hor-metic effect on the plant growth. Increased malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations suggested Cd-induced oxidative damage to the plant. As the effective defense systems, the activity of superoxide dismutases (SOD) and peroxidases (POD) increased significantly, implicating a good tolerance to lower concentration Cd exposure, but decrease by exposure to higher Cd concentrations indicating a potential damage to the plant.
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