Heavy Metals Effects on Brassica Oleracea and Elements Accumulation by Salicylic Acid

Background & Aims of the Study: The objective of this study was to investigate the seed pre-treatment with salicylic acid (SA) on tolerance and remediation ability of Brassica oleracea var. acephala under lead and zinc stresses.
Present study was conducted to evaluate phyto-accumulative ability of Brassica oleracea var. acephala in heavy metal concentrations. After seed disinfection, the seeds were soaked in the solution of SA (0, 200 and 300 mgL-1) for 6 hours and cultured in media with different concentrations ZnSO4 and Pb(NO3) (0, 50, 100 and 200 mgL-1). Some germination indices such as the shoot to root ratio, leaf width, fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll content and absorption of heavy metal by seedling were investigated, after 14 days.
The results showed that with increasing metal density, almost all of germination indices decreased significantly in comparison with the control. The most heavy metals accumulation was observed in seed pre-treatment with 300 mg L-1 SA and 100 mg L-1 metals treatment. By increasing the concentration of lead and zinc in the medium, the accumulation of metals was increased significantly in the plants. So, in the treatment of 100 mg L-1 of each metal, the accumulation of lead and zinc were 8500.5 and 1085.1 mg kg-1 in dry weight respectively.
The results show that that ornamental Kale can be used as a hyperaccumulator plant for lead and zinc in polluted regions in this study. The Ornamental kale would be a high biomass crop that can accumulate the contaminant of lead and zinc in the soil.