Effects of environmental factors on Cd biotoxicity and phytochelatins production in Triticum aestivum

In this paper, a solution culture experiment was conducted to study the effects of environmental factors on Cd biotoxicity and phytochelatins (PCs) production in wheat. The results showed that Cd stress had significant inhibitory effects on wheat growth and PCs overproduction. The Cd biotoxicity and Cd uptake by wheat were affected in varying degrees by soil pH, Ca and S, and the levels of PCs production in root were consistent with the changes of Cd biotoxicity. Furthermore, the Cd biotoxicity was decreased with increasing P supply, coinciding with the decrease of PCs level in root. Mg had no obvious effect on both Cd biotoxicity and PCs level in root. The present results further confirmed that the induced PCs production level by Cd was related to Cd biotoxicity in plant, suggesting that PCs could be a promising biomarker for estimating Cd phytotoxicity.