Effects of cadmium on growth, photosynthetic rate and chlorophyll content in leaves of soybean seedlings

Cadmium is a widely spread pollutant and the objective of this study was to study the effects of different concentrations of Cd (0, 50, and 100 mu M) on the soybean seedlings treated for 10 d. The growth was inhibited and chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, probability that a trapped exciton moves an electron into the electron transport chain beyond QA - (ETO/TRO), performance indexes (PIABS), and amount of active reaction centres per excited cross section (RC/CSO) were decreased with the increasing Cd concentration. The leaf reflectance increased in visual range (500-670 nm) and decreased in near-infrared range (750-1 000 nm). The accumulation of Cd in the roots was much higher than that in the stems and leaves.