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Toxic effects of Pb2+ on growth of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)
Peter M Kopittke1, Colin J Asher, Rosemary A Kopittke
1School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences and CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. p.kopittke@uq.edu.au
Abstract:
A concentration as low as 1 microM lead (Pb) is highly toxic to plants, but previous studies have typically related plant growth to the total amount of Pb added to a solution. In the present experiment, the relative fresh mass of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) was reduced by 10% at a Pb2+ activity of 0.2 microM for the shoots and at a Pb2+ activity of 0.06 microM for the roots. The primary site of Pb2+ toxicity was the root, causing severe reductions in root growth, loss of apical dominance (shown by an increase in branching per unit root length), the formation of localized swellings behind the root tips (due to the initiation of lateral roots), and the bending of some root tips. In the root, Pb was found to accumulate primarily within the cell walls and intercellular spaces.
