Interaction of selenium and cadmium in wheat at different salinities

Abstract

Interaction of Se up to 8 mg kg⁻¹ soil and Cd at 5 and 15 mg kg⁻¹ soil in wheat at different salinities was evaluated. Se concentrations in wheat shoots were progressively increased in parallel to Se in soil but decreased by addition of Cd. With increasing salinity, Cd concentrations increased and Se decreased. At low salinity, low addition of Se to the soil reduced Cd accumulation. At moderate and high salinities, only high Se amendment led to decline in Cd uptake, at the expense of reduction in biomass yield. Se at 0.5 mg kg⁻¹ soil alleviated the negative effect of Cd on shoot yield.

Keywords:

• Cadmium
• interaction
• salinity
• selenium
• wheat

Acknowledgments

This work as a part of a Ph.D. thesis was supported by Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. We are also grateful to Dr. Maria Greger in Stockholm University for providing access to laboratory instruments and Tommy Landberg for helping us in measurements. Special thanks go to Dr. Karaj Dhillon, Punjab Agricultural University, for his English editing of this paper and to Dr. M.H. Rashed-Mohassel, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, for his valuable comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.