Variations in several morphological characteristics and Cd/Pb accumulation capacities among different ecotypes of torpedograss responding to Cd-Pb stresses

ABSTRACT

Torpedograss (Panicum repens) has been recognized as an useful plant species for phytoremediation of water-level-fluctuation zones, which is a worldwide challenge. In this study, 10 ecotypes collected from tropical zone and flooded habitats (Group A) and subtropical zone and drought habitats (Group B) were used to clarify their responses to Cd-Pb stresses and effects of long-term adaptation on their morphological features and Cd-Pb accumulation capacities. Branch capacity, shoot and root biomasses of Group A under control were smaller than those of Group B, while the opposite results were observed under Cd-Pb stresses. The average plant shoot Cd concentrations of Group A under L-Cd-Pb and H-Cd-Pb were 24.84 and 52.38 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, significantly lower than those of Group B (36.81 and 67.60 mg kg⁻¹), while the variation among each group was insignificant, suggesting that habitat isolation and long-term adaptation may have led to differentiation in morphological features and metal uptake capacity. Torpedograss possesses high tolerance to Cd-Pb toxicities, and those ecotypes with larger biomass had higher Cd-Pb accumulation capacities. Torpedograss is a potential plant species for Cd phytoremediation and approximately 16 years would be required to clean soil contained by Cd as high as 10 mg kg⁻¹ using the selected torpedograss ecotypes.

KEYWORDS:

• torpedograss
• ecotype
• Cd-Pb accumulation
• ecological isolation

Abbreviations

LRC	=	leaf relative conductivity
RTS	=	values of response to stress
WLFZs	=	water-level-fluctuation zones

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the State Key Project for River Environment Protection of China (No. 2009ZX07211-022-3), National Nature Science (No.31601985) and the Science and Technology project of Guangdong Province (No. 2016A020221039).