Journal
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
Volume 72, Issue 2, Pages 619-625Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2008.06.002
Keywords
Mercury; Brassica juncea L.; Phytotoxicity; Scanning electron microscopy; Transmission electron microscopy; Light microscopy
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Funding
- US Department of Energy's Office of Science and Technology through Cooperative Agreement [DE-FC01-06EW-07040]
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This study investigated the phytotoxicity of mercury to Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.). Two common cultivars (Florida Broad Leaf and Long-standing) were grown hydroponically in a mercury-spiked solution. Mercury exhibited a significant phytotoxicity in these two cultivars of Indian mustard at elevated concentrations (>= 2 mg L-1). Mercury uptake induced a significant reduction in both biomass and leaf relative water content. Microscopy studies indicated that elevated mercury concentrations in plants significantly changed leaf cellular structure: thickly stained areas surrounding the vascular bundles; decreases in the number of palisade and spongy parenchyma cells; and reduced cell size and clotted depositions. The palisade chloroplasts exhibited decreases in their amounts and starch grains as well as a loss of spindle shape. However, due to high accumulation of mercury in plants, especially in the roots, Indian mustard might be a potential candidate plant for phytofiltration of contaminated water and phytostabilization of mercury-contaminated soils. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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