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Cadmium toxicity in maize seedlings: changes in antioxidant enzyme activities and root growth.

In acid soils worldwide cadmium toxicity is a major factor limiting plant growth. The harmful effect of cadmium is initially expressed as a reduction in growth followed by several other secondary responses. In this study, some of the toxic effects of Cd(+2) like induction of oxidative stress were investigated. The effect of metal ion on the root growth was considered in maize plants. Maize (Zea mays L.) seeds were sterilized with 2.5% sodium hypochlorite solution for 15 min and washed thoroughly with distilled water. These seeds then germinated in petri dish (20 cm) containing distilled water at 37 degrees C in the dark. After a 1 day incubation, uniformly germinated seeds were selected and transferred to Petri dishes (9.0 cm) containing filter paper moistened with 10 mL of distilled water. Each Petri dish contained 12 germinated seeds. Each treatment was replicated 4 times. The germinated seeds were allowed to grow at 27 degrees C in darkness and 5 mL of test solution was added to each Petri dish in the second day. The test solution contained 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 3 and 5 mM CdCl2. Cadmium treatments, increased GPX and APX activities in root in the presence of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 mM concentrations, but their activities were constant in 1, 3 and 5 mM. Increased concentrations of CdCl2 from 0.25 to 5 mM decreased root length progressively. However, no reduction of shoot length by CdCl2 was observed.