Barley, a cereal plant belongs to the herbaceous family of Poaceae grown in a variety of environments. Worldwide, barley is the fourth most widely grown edible grain crop right after wheat, rice, and corn. It is commonly used in animal feed, bread, soups, stews, health goods, and different food industries such as beer. Barley is a small, alternate-leaved annual grass with erect stems (Rajasekharan & Kumar, 2023). More than any other cereal, barley is climate-adaptable and suitable for temperate, subarctic, or subtropical regions. It can grow and mature faster than any other grain, even though it
Effect of Different Concentrations of Cadmium Sulfate CdSO₄ on Germination, Growth, and Development of Common Barley Hordeum vulgare L
Authors: Hosam Ali Aldhawi Ashokri
Journal Name: Effect of Different Concentrations of Cadmium Sulfate CdSO₄ on Germination, Growth, and Development of Common Barley Hordeum vulgare L;
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8382250
Keywords: Cadmium Sulfate; Germination; Growth; Development; Hordeum vulgare L; Heavy Metals; Pollution.
Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of cadmium sulfate CdSO 4 on germination, growth, and development of common barley Hordeum vulgare L. at several concentrations (0, 100, 200, and 300 μmol). The experiment lasted for an entire month and was designed based on four treatments for each plant, and each treatment was replicated four times (16 pots). Results revealed that the highest germination rate of the seeds was scored for the concentration of 0% μmol (the control) at 98%, whilst the 300-μmol concentration recorded the lowest germination rate at 27%. It was observed that the highest average length of the plant was recorded at the 0% concentration while the lowest was at the concentration of 300 μmol, which reached (13.1 ± 2.1 and 6.7 ± 0.9 cm), respectively. Results have also shown an inverse relationship between cadmium sulfate concentrations and the wet and dry weight of the plant, where the higher the concentration, the lower the wet and dry weights of the shoot and root systems of the plant. Furthermore, many morphological and anatomical changes were detected, such as a decrease in turgor pressure, which led to a shrinkage of the leaf surface area as well as a shortening of the internodes due to the small size and number of cells that resulted in stunted plants.