Effects of Cadmium Stress on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth and Physiology of Red Cabbage

Ni Tianhong; Zhang He; Du Tianyu; Xu Hui; Chen Liwen

doi:10.14083/j.issn.1001-4942.2025.12.010

Abstract：In order to investigate the adaptability of red cabbage seeds and seedlings in Cd-contaminated soil,and to provide a certain reference basis for breeding red cabbage as well as identification and assessment of the damage degree of Cd-contaminated soil to vegetables,this experiment was conducted with'Xianhong 65'red cabbage as a test variety to study the effects of different concentrations(25,50,100,200 and 400 mg/L)of Cd stress on seed germination and seedling growth and physiology.The results showed that Cd stress had the low-promoting and high-suppressing effect on germination of red cabbage seeds,that was to say,low concentration(25 mg/L and 50 mg/L)of Cd promoted seed germination,while high concentration(100 to 400 mg/L)of Cd significantly decreased the germination rate,germination potential,germination index,vigor index,embryonic root length and embryonic shoot length,and the inhibitory effect on embryonic root was the most significant.Under low concentration(25 mg/L and 50 mg/L)of Cd,the biomass and chlorophyll content of red cabbage seedlings decreased slightly.With the increase of Cd concentration,the above-ground dry weight,root dry weight,root vigor,biomass and chlorophyll content of seedlings decreased significantly,and the malondialdehyde content,relative conductivity,soluble sugar content and soluble protein content in the leaves increased significantly.In conclusion,planting red cabbage in the soil with Cd concentration higher than 100 mg/L inhibited its growth and reduced its yield.