The Effect of Cadmium on Photosynthetic Pigments, Shoot and Root Length, and Shoot Uptake in NightshadePlant

Cadmium is one of the heavy metals which is not necessary and too poisonous for plants and animals. In this study, the toxic effect of cadmium chloride on Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum L.)wasinvestigated. Plants were grown in Perlite with Hoagland solution, containing different concentrations of cadmium (from 0 to 1000 mM)). Samples were collected from leaf and root tissues of forty-day plants in order to analyze the morphological and physiological parameters.The results of shoot and root elongationshowed that the majority of cadmium levelsdid not have a significant effect on root length and the observed reduction was not noticeable. Furthermore, the six levels of cadmium (i.e., 0, 62.5, 125, 500, & 1000mM) were not different and had no significant effect on stem length and photosynthetic pigments at p<.05. The results indicated that cadmium is highly absorbable in Nightshade and, with an increase in its concertation,its accumulation increases in plant tissues in a way that a significant difference is observable across different cadmium levels. Since the absorbed cadmium is mostly transferred to the leaves and considering the results of shoot and photosynthetic pigments and lack of significant effect of cadmium on these parameters, it can be concluded that this plant has a high phytoremediation potential.