Affiliations: Department of Biology,College of Chemistry and Life
Sciences,Tianjin Normal University,Tianjin 300074,China.
E-mail:donghua@mail.tjnu.edu.cn | Library, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300074,
China | College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin
300071, China
Note: [] Corresponding author
Abstract: The effects of different concentrations of copper sulfate on root
and shoot growth of maize(Zea mays L.) and the uptake and accumulation of
Cu²^+ by its roots and shoots were investigated in the present study. The
concentrations of opper sulfate (CuSO_4·5H_2O) used were in the range of
10^-^5-10^-³mol/L. Root growth decreased progressively with increasing
concentration of Cu²^+ in solution. The seedlings exposed to 10^-³
mol/L Cu²^+ exhibited substantial growth reduction, yielding only 68% of
the root length of the control. The shoot growth of the seedlings grown at
10^-^5-10^-^4 mol/L Cu²^+ were more or less than the same as the control
seedlings. The leaves treated with 10^-³ mol/L Cu²^+ were obviously
inhibited in shoot growth. The fresh and dry weights both in roots and shots
decreased progressively with increasing Cu²^+ concentration.This fits well
with the above mentioned effects of copper sulfate on root growth. Zea mays has
considerable ability to remove Cu from solutions and accumulate it. The Cu
content in roots of Z. Mays increased with increasing solution concentration of
Cu²^+. The amount of Cu in roots of plants treated with 10^-³, 10^-^4
and 10^-^5 mol/L Cu²^+ were 10, 8 and 1.5 fold, respectively, greater than
that of roots of control plant. However, the plants transported and
concentrated only a small amount of Cu in their shoots.
