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. 2015 Jan 28;10(1):e0114571.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114571. eCollection 2015.

Alleviation of cadmium toxicity in Brassica juncea L. (Czern. & Coss.) by calcium application involves various physiological and biochemical strategies

Parvaiz Ahmad  1 , Maryam Sarwat  2 , Nazir Ahmad Bhat  3 , Mohd Rafiq Wani  3 , Alvina Gul Kazi  4 , Lam-Son Phan Tran  5
Affiliations

Alleviation of cadmium toxicity in Brassica juncea L. (Czern. & Coss.) by calcium application involves various physiological and biochemical strategies

Parvaiz Ahmad et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Calcium (Ca) plays important role in plant development and response to various environmental stresses. However, its involvement in mitigation of heavy metal stress in plants remains elusive. In this study, we examined the effect of Ca (50 mM) in controlling cadmium (Cd) uptake in mustard (Brassica juncea L.) plants exposed to toxic levels of Cd (200 mg L(-1) and 300 mg L(-1)). The Cd treatment showed substantial decrease in plant height, root length, dry weight, pigments and protein content. Application of Ca improved the growth and biomass yield of the Cd-stressed mustard seedlings. More importantly, the oil content of mustard seeds of Cd-stressed plants was also enhanced with Ca treatment. Proline was significantly increased in mustard plants under Cd stress, and exogenously sprayed Ca was found to have a positive impact on proline content in Cd-stressed plants. Different concentrations of Cd increased lipid peroxidation but the application of Ca minimized it to appreciable level in Cd-treated plants. Excessive Cd treatment enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase, which were further enhanced by the addition of Ca. Additionally, Cd stress caused reduced uptake of essential elements and increased Cd accumulation in roots and shoots. However, application of Ca enhanced the concentration of essential elements and decreased Cd accumulation in Cd-stressed plants. Our results indicated that application of Ca enables mustard plant to withstand the deleterious effect of Cd, resulting in improved growth and seed quality of mustard plants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Co-author Lam-Son Phan Tran is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Effect of Ca on oil content in seeds of mustard plants under Cd stress at different time intervals.
Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5). Different letters indicate significant difference (P < 0.05) among the treatments within a developmental stage. Symbols $, £ and ¥ denote significant change among the different developmental stages in the same treatment. DAT, days after treatment.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Effect of Ca on malondialdehyde (MDA) content in leaves of mustard plants under Cd stress at different stages of growth.
Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5). Different letters indicate significant difference (P < 0.05) among the treatments within a developmental stage. Symbols $, £ and ¥ denote significant change among the different developmental stage in the same treatment. DAT, days after treatment; FW, fresh weight.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Effect of Ca on (A) superoxide dismutase (SOD); (B) catalase (CAT), (C) ascorbate peroxidase (APX); and (D) glutathione reductase (GR) in leaves of mustard plants under Cd stress at different stages of growth.
Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5). Different letters indicate significant difference (P < 0.05) among the treatments within a developmental stage. Symbols $, £, ¥ denote significant change among the different developmental stage in the same treatment. DAT, days after treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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