Influence of mercury on chlorophyll content in winter wheat and mercury bioaccumulation

Abstract

Mercury (Hg) is one of the major pollutants in soils because of the annual import of toxic Hg into the agricultural lands. The aims of the present studies are to investigate the effect of Hg on chlorophyll content in winter wheat var. jinan No. 17. Moreover, calcium (Ca) levels and bioaccumulation of Hg in wheat leaves were studied with the technique of inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometer (ICP-SF-MS). The study conducted a range of Hg concentrations from 0~500 mg Hg/kg in the dry weight soil. The soil was artificially contaminated with Hg as follows: 0, 100, 200, and 500 mg Hg/kg as HgCl<SUB>2</SUB>. At early stages of the wheat growth, both low and high concentration of Hg stimulates chlorophyll content, but inhibits chlorophyll content at later stages of the wheat growth. Furthermore, the concentrations of Ca and Hg in wheat leaves increased with the increasing concentration of Hg<SUP> </SUP>on the thirty-fourth day with the technique of ICP-SF-MS. The results indicate that Hg can accelerate the absorption of Ca in winter wheat and Hg stress may affect Ca levels in wheat leaves.