Agroecotoxicological Aspect of Cd in Soil-Plant System: Uptake, Translocation and Amelioration Strategies

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is considered to be one of the most toxic pollutants persistent in soil for thousands of years and is ranked on seventh position among all environmental pollutants. The higher concentration of Cd in plants inhibits their growth and metabolism and further enters the food chain. Cd toxicity initiates redox actions in plants by inducing oxidative stress through the production of free radicals. It alters mineral uptake by disturbing water potential or affects the microbial population in soils, opening and closing of stomata, transpiration, photosynthesis, antioxidant levels, sugar metabolism and productivities. It also causes chlorosis, mineral deficiencies, inhibition of nitrate reductase activity and ammonia assimilation in several plant species. The plants have adopted a number of mechanisms to facilitate reduction in the amount of ROS. They possess series of antioxidative defence responses to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Furthermore, specific mechanisms such as such as efflux, immobilization, stabilization, complexation, sequestration and detoxification are generally observed to combat the Cd stresses. Moreover, endogenous phytohormonal signalling during stressed conditions within plants has also been focussed. Cd stimulates various hormonal signalling pathways and regulates many physiological processes in plants that in turn ameliorate Cd stress. Strikingly, phytohormones play an imperative role during signal transduction pathway along with regulating overall growth and development of plants under toxic conditions. Moreover, plant hormones boost antioxidant activities and plummet oxidative damage from plants along with maintaining cellular homeostasis. This review encompasses the ecotoxicological aspects of Cd within plants and plant responses to tackle such adversities.

Keywords: Antioxidants; Cadmium; Metal chelation; Oxidative burst; Phytohormone signalling; Secondary metabolites; Sequestration; Toxicity; Translocation.