<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In this work three heavy metals: cadmium (as CdSO4), cobalt (as CoCl2) and zinc (as ZnSO4), were used to determine and compare their toxicity towards two subspecies of barley (<italic>Hordeum vulgare</italic> subsp. <italic>vulgare</italic> L. and <italic>Hordeum vulgare</italic> subsp. <italic>distichum</italic> L.), focusing on seeds germination, seedlings growth, and cytological parameters. The results indicate that the effect of these heavy metals depends on the metal kind, the metal concentrations and the plant subspecies. Generally, in the case of <italic>H. vulgare</italic>, the heavy metal salts understudy did not influence significantly seed germination and seedling growth parameters. However, these metal salts influence significantly these parameters for <italic>H. distichum</italic>. The cytological test showed significant decrease (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) in the mitotic index among the increase of the heavy metal concentrations when evaluated with the control for <italic>H. vulgare</italic> and <italic>H. distichum</italic>. Consequently, <italic>H. vulgare</italic> seemed to be more tolerant of the increase of the three heavy metals concentrations than <italic>H. distichum</italic>.</abstract>

In this work three heavy metals: cadmium (as CdSO4), cobalt (as CoCl2) and zinc (as ZnSO4), were used to determine and compare their toxicity towards two subspecies of barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare L. and Hordeum vulgare subsp. distichum L.), focusing on seeds germination, seedlings growth, and cytological parameters. The results indicate that the effect of these heavy metals depends on the metal kind, the metal concentrations and the plant subspecies. Generally, in the case of H. vulgare, the heavy metal salts understudy did not influence significantly seed germination and seedling growth parameters. However, these metal salts influence significantly these parameters for H. distichum. The cytological test showed significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the mitotic index among the increase of the heavy metal concentrations when evaluated with the control for H. vulgare and H. distichum. Consequently, H. vulgare seemed to be more tolerant of the increase of the three heavy metals concentrations than H. distichum.

Responses of Two Barley Subspecies to <italic>In vitro-</italic>Induced Heavy Metal Stress: Seeds Germination, Seedlings Growth and Cytotoxicity Assay

Agriculture (Pol'nohospodárstvo)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Responses of Two Barley Subspecies to Induced Heavy Metal Stress: Seeds Germination, Seedlings Growth and Cytotoxicity Assay

In this work three heavy metals: cadmium (as CdSO4), cobalt (as CoCl2) and zinc (as ZnSO4), were used to determine and compare their toxicity towards two...

Responses of Two Barley Subspecies to In vitro-Induced Heavy Metal Stress: Seeds Germination, Seedlings Growth and Cytotoxicity Assay

Published Online: Oct 18, 2019

Page range: 107 - 118

Received: May 29, 2019

Accepted: Sep 12, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/agri-2019-0011

Keywords
subsp. L., subsp. L., mitotic index, heavy metals

© 2019 Mohamed Nouri et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Responses of Two Barley Subspecies to In vitro-Induced Heavy Metal Stress: Seeds Germination, Seedlings Growth and Cytotoxicity Assay

Published Online: Oct 18, 2019

Page range: 107 - 118

Received: May 29, 2019

Accepted: Sep 12, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/agri-2019-0011

Keywordssubsp. L., subsp. L., mitotic index, heavy metals

© 2019 Mohamed Nouri et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
subsp. L., subsp. L., mitotic index, heavy metals