Calcium application enhances growth and alleviates the damaging effects induced by Cd stress in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Figures & data

Table 1. Effect of Cd (0.1 mM CdCl₂) stress on length, dry weight, number of branches and leaf area of S. indicum L. grown with and without calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5), LSD at 0.05 (one-way ANOVA by SPSS-21).

Treatments	Root			Shoot
	Main root length	Lateral root length	Dry weight	Height	Dry weight	No. of branches	Leaf area
Control
0 mM Cd	68.2a	16.2b	4.1b	104.7b	13.0b	2.1b	11.3b
0.1 mM Cd	43.0c	7.3d	1.9d	78.2d	9.8c	1.3c	7.0c
CaCl2
0 mM Cd	72.5a	28.8a	4.7a	125.2a	17.1a	2.9a	13.4a
0.1 mM Cd	52.1b	12.9c	3.2c	87.9c	12.0b	2.0b	10.0b
LSD at 0.05	6.12	2.83	0.76	10.94	1.68	0.42	2.37

Note: a, b and c denote significant change among the different treatments in the same parameter.

Table 2. Cd (µg g⁻¹ dry wt) content in leaf and root of S. indicum grown with and without calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5), LSD at 0.05 (one-way ANOVA by SPSS-21).

Treatments	Accumulation of cadmium (µg g^−1 dry wt)
	Leaf	Root
Control
0 mM Cd	0	0
0.1 mM Cd	153.2a	372.3b
CaCl2
0 mM Cd	0	0
0.1 mM Cd	30.1b	1458.2a
LSD at 0.05	18.63	92.45

Note: a, b and c denote significant change among the different treatments in the same parameter.

Table 3. Effect of cadmium (0.1 mM CdCl₂) stress on chlorophyll a (Chl. a), chlorophyll b (Chl. b), carotenoid (Carot.) and total chlorophyll (Total Chls.) contents in leaves of S. indicum L. grown with and without calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5), LSD at 0.05 (one-way ANOVA by SPSS-21).

Treatments	Photosynthetic pigments (mg g^−1 fresh weight)
	Chl. a	Chl. b	Chls a + b	Chls a/b	Carot.	Total pigments
Control
0 mM Cd	1.2a	0.58b	1.7	2.0	0.27b	2.0b
0.1 mM Cd	0.7c	0.30d	1.0	2.4	0.12d	1.1d
CaCl2
0 mM Cd	1.4a	0.64a	2.1	2.2	0.35a	2.4a
0.1 mM Cd	1.1b	0.41c	1.4	2.5	0.19c	1.6c
LSD at 0.05	0.24	0.07	0.05	0.06	0.03	0.04

Note: a, b and c denote significant change among the different treatments in the same parameter.

Figure 1. Effect of Cd stress (0.1 mM CdCl₂) on (A) H₂O₂ (nmol g⁻¹ fresh wt) and (B) MDA (nmol g⁻¹ fresh wt) in leaves of S. indicum with and without added calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5).

Figure 2. Effect of cadmium stress (0.1 mM CdCl₂) on (A) TSS (µg g⁻¹ fresh wt) and (B) proline (µmol g⁻¹ fresh wt) in leaves of S. indicum with and without added calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5).

Figure 3. Effect of Cd stress (0.1 mM CdCl₂) on (A) SOD (B) POD (C) CAT (D) APX and (E) GR in leaves of S. indicum with and without added calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5).

Table 4. Effect of Cd (0.1 mM CdCl₂) stress on lipid fractions (mg g⁻¹ fresh weight) in leaves of S. indicum L. grown with and without calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5), LSD at 0.05 (one-way ANOVA by SPSS-21).

Treatments	Lipid fractions (mg g^−1 fresh weight)
	Galactolipids	Phospholipids	Neutral Lipids	Total Lipids
Control
0 mM Cd	21.1b	14.2b	5.8b	40.1b
0.1 mM Cd	10.3d	10.6d	4.5c	28.6d
CaCl2
0 mM Cd	24.3a	16.1a	8.3a	53.8a
0.1 mM Cd	16.9c	12.4c	5.3b	32.5c
LSD at 0.05	4.23	1.56	0.24	5.81

Note: a, b and c denote significant change among the different treatments in the same parameter.

Table 5. Effect of cadmium (0.1 mM CdCl₂) stress on neutral lipids (mg g⁻¹ fresh wt) diacylglycerol (DG), triacylglycerol (TG), sterol (S), sterol ester (SE) and non-esterified fatty acids (FAA) in leaves of S. indicum L. grown with and without calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5), LSD at 0.05 (one-way ANOVA by SPSS-21).

Treatments	Neutral lipids (mg g^−1 fresh wt)
	DG	TG	S	SE	NEFA
Control
0 mM Cd	0.50c	1.08b	0.91b	1.52b	1.84a
0.1 mM Cd	0.81a	0.47d	0.89c	1.63a	0.75c
CaCl2
0 mM Cd	0.42d	2.58a	2.03a	1.42c	1.78a
0.1 mM Cd	0.69b	0.87c	0.90b	1.58ab	1.31b
LSD at 0.05	0.04	0.27	0.01	0.03	0.05

Note: a, b and c denote significant change among the different treatments in the same parameter.

Table 6. Effect of cadmium (0.1 mM CdCl₂) stress on phospholipids (mg g⁻¹ fresh wt), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidic acid (PA) in leaves of S. indicum L. grown with and without calcium (50 mM CaCl₂). Data presented are the means ± SE (n = 5), LSD at 0.05 (one-way ANOVA by SPSS-21).

Treatments	Phospholipids (mg g^−1 fresh wt)
	PC	PE	PG	PI	PS	PA	Total
Control
0 mM Cd	3.76b	2.36b	1.37b	0.72b	0.34b	5.71c	14.26
0.1 mM Cd	0.86d	1.14d	0.75d	0.53d	0.28c	7.12a	10.68
CaCl2
0 mM Cd	4.23a	3.05a	1.96a	1.02a	0.67a	5.24cd	16.17
0.1 mM Cd	1.93c	2.17c	1.04c	0.61c	0.31b	6.42b	12.48
LSD at 0.05	0.47	0.17	0.12	0.05	0.01	0.18	1.06

Note: a, b and c denote significant change among the different treatments in the same parameter.