Impact of copper toxicity on stone-head cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) in hydroponics

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1 Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
2 Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
3 Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
4 Department of Environmental Science, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.830v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Agricultural Science
Keywords
Leaf chlorosis, nutrient uptake, non-protein thiol, Cu contamination, biomass
Copyright
© 2015 Ali et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Ali S, Shahbaz M, Shahzad AN, Fatima A, Khan HAA, Anees M, Haider MS. 2015. Impact of copper toxicity on stone-head cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) in hydroponics. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e830v1

Abstract

Arable soils are frequently subjected to contamination with copper as the consequence of imbalanced fertilization with manure and organic fertilizers and/or extensive use of copper-containing fungicides. In the present study, the exposure of Stone-head cabbage (Brassica oleracea Var. capitata) to elevated Cu2+ levels resulted in leaf chlorosis and lesser biomass yield at ≥ 2 µM. Root nitrate content was not statistically affected by Cu2+ levels, although it was substantially decreased at ≥ 5 µM Cu2+ in the shoot. The decrease in nitrate contents can be related to lower nitrate uptake rates because of growth inhibition by Cu-toxicity. Shoot sulfate content increased strongly at ≥ 2 µM Cu2+ indicating an increase in demand for sulfur under Cu stress. Furthermore, at ≥ 2 µM concentration, concentration of water-soluble non-protein thiol increased markedly in the roots and to a smaller level in the shoot. When exposed to elevated concentrations of Cu2+ the improved sulfate and water-soluble non-protein thiols need further studies for the evaluation of their direct relation with the synthesis of metal-chelating compounds (i.e. phytochelatins).

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

Means and Standard Deviations

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.830v1/supp-1