Cadmium and lead uptake capacity of energy crops and distribution of metals within the plant structures

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to investigate the accumulation and distribution of Cd and Pb in plant parts and to evaluate the potential problem caused by heavy metals when biofuel is produced by plant seeds cultivated from Cd and Pb contaminated soil. Based on the germination test results, sunflowers were selected as the target plant because of their high germination rate and IC50 compared to other plants. The trends of accumulated amounts and concentrations of Cd and Pb in sunflowers were not identical. The accumulation of Cd in the plant parts was in the order of: seeds > stem > leaves > petals > roots, with the accumulation of Pb: stem > roots > leaves > petals > seeds. Pb did not accumulate in the seeds. Our findings show that there should not be any significant problem producing biofuel from sunflower seeds cultivated in Pb contaminated soil.