Characteristics of Cadmium and Lead Accumulation and Transfer by Chenopodium Quinoa Will

• Published in: Sustainability 2020-05, Vol.12 (9), p.3789
• Main Authors: Radovanovic, Vesna, Djekic, Ilija, Zarkovic, Branka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioaccumulation; Cadmium; Drinking water; Enzymes; Experiments; Exports; Food chains; Heavy metals; Lead; Metal concentrations; Proteins; Quinoa; Seeds; Sustainability; Translocation; Water pollution
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su12093789

Potentially toxic elements are persistent in the environment and plants have the ability to absorb and transfer them from soil in edible parts. The objectives of this study were to characterize the distribution of Cd and Pb in quinoa tissues and to investigate their accumulation and transfer from irrigated water in edible parts of quinoa. For the purpose of this study experiment and simulated pollution in the form of different metal concentration in water that was used for irrigation was designed. Distribution of metals in quinoa were determined and analyzed in seed formation and maturation stage. Bioaccumulation and translocation factors were calculated to characterize the efficiency of quinoa to absorb metals. The results of our study indicated that quinoa adopts potentially toxic metals from substrate but does not accumulate them. The potential of such a conclusion is useful for exploring the use of quinoa as lead and cadmium excluders.