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Variation in response to heavy metals during vegetative growth in Dorycnium pentaphyllum Scop.

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Abstract

Seeds, young plants and adult plants of the perennial Mediterranean leguminous shrub Dorycnium pentaphyllum Scop. were exposed to Cd (1–100 μM) or Zn (10–10,000 μM) on nutrient solution. This species is resistant to Cd and Zn at different phenological stages. The lowest doses of Zn and Cd improved seed germination and young seedling growth, while only the highest doses of both heavy metals inhibited germination and decreased growth. High doses of Cd reduced seed imbibition and young seedling water content, while Zn did not. Osmotic adjustment was more efficient in Zn-treated young plants than in Cd-treated ones, while chlorophyll concentrations decreased in the former but not in the latter. Those differences were not observed anymore in adult plants. Exclusion processes were more efficient at the adult stage than at the young seedling stage and were more marked in response to Zn than to Cd. It is concluded that D. pentaphyllum could be used for phytostabilization of heavy metal-contaminated areas. The physiological strategies of tolerance, however, differ according to the age of the plants and the nature of the metal.

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Abbreviations

BL:

Basal level

Chl:

Chlorophyll

EDDHA:

Ethylenediamine-di(o-hydroxy)-phenylacetic acid

Exp:

Experiment

L i :

Level of imbibition

NFT:

Nutrient film technique

PAR:

Photosynthetically active radiation

PFD:

Photon flux density

Ψ s :

Osmotic potential

Ψ w :

Water potential

UL:

Upper level

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS-Belgium, convention n° 2.4565.02). The authors are also very grateful to Mrs Anne Iserentant for her precious help in cadmium quantification, to Mrs Brigitte Van Pee and Mr. Baudouin Capelle for germination test and plant culture and to Mr Antonio Robledo Miras for his help in collecting the seeds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Groupe de Recherche en Physiologie végétale (GRPV), Université catholique de Louvain, 5 (Bte 13) Place Croix du Sud, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Isabelle Lefèvre, Geoffrey Marchal, Andréa Zanuzzi & Stanley Lutts

  2. Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario—Estación Sericícola, 30150, La Alberca, Murcia, Spain

    Enrique Corréal

Authors
  1. Isabelle Lefèvre
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  2. Geoffrey Marchal
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  3. Enrique Corréal
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  4. Andréa Zanuzzi
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  5. Stanley Lutts
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Correspondence to Stanley Lutts.

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Lefèvre, I., Marchal, G., Corréal, E. et al. Variation in response to heavy metals during vegetative growth in Dorycnium pentaphyllum Scop.. Plant Growth Regul 59, 1–11 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-009-9382-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-009-9382-z

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