skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Impact of cadmium and ozone on foliar symptom development, mineral composition, growth, yield and quality of woody and herbaceous plants

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5996768

Green mountain (GM), Norchip (NC) and Norland (NL) potato (Solanum tuberosum) cultivars were grown in the field under standard commercial practices to determine their relative susceptibility to oxidants and to evaluate the effectiveness of two antioxidants, EDU and benomyl, applied as soil drenches. The order of foliar susceptibility to oxidants was NL > NC > GM. Symptom severity directly correlated with cumulative oxidant dose, and the time of maximum plant sensitivity was cultivar-dependent. EDU significantly reduced foliar symptoms but benomyl did not. Untreated plants sustained up to a 31% reduction in tuber yield when compared to EDU treated plants. Reductions in specific gravity, tuber size and tuber number were year x cultivar dependent. The uptake and distribution of cadmium (Cd), another phytotoxic pollutant, in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) grown in sand culture amended with 0 or 2.0 ..mu..g Cd/ml as CdCl/sub 2/ in a nutrient solution was compared. Tobacco accumulated twice as much Cd in the foliage as in the roots, whereas tomato plants contained only one-seventh as much Cd in the leaves. Although Cd-treated plants exhibited no visual toxicity symptoms, nor changes in percent dry weight, Mn and Fe concentrations were significantly reduced in the roots. Zinc concentrations of root and shoot tissue did not significantly change. When quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) were grown in a sand substrate receiving nutrient solution amended with Cd (0-10 ..mu..g Cd/ml) and exposed to ozone (O/sub 3/) in a controlled and ambient environment, cadmium treated plants were more susceptible.

OSTI ID:
5996768
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English