Abstract: In order to study the effects of different concentrations of cadmium stress on the growth and physiological characteristics of different thin-skinned melon varieties at seedling stage,hydroponic methods were conducted with based on previous experiments,and the thin-skinned melon varieties XTG(relatively high accumulation species)and IVF-28(relatively low accumulation species)were selected as trial cultivars. Four different CdCl₂ concentrations of 0,30,60,and 100 mg/L were set,the changes of shoot growth,root growth and physiological and biochemical indexes under different Cd stress concentrations were studied. The results showed that the plant height,stem thickness,total root length,root surface area,root volume,root tip number,and fractal dimension of XTG and IVF-28 all decreased as the concentration of Cd stress increased. And the decrease of XTG was lower than that of IVF-28. With the increase of Cd stress treatment concentration,the physiology of the two tested thin-skinned melon varieties also changed. The SOD,MDA and H₂O₂ contents increased with the increase of Cd stress treatment concentration,and the POD activity and GSH content reached the maximum under 60 mg/L CdCl₂ treatment,while CAT activity and PRO content reached the maximum when 30 mg/L CdCl₂ treatment,in which the physiological and biochemical indicators of XTG were higher than IVF-28. The results showed that X-T-G,a thin-skinned melon variety,had a lower decline in growth-related indicators than IVF-28 under Cd stress,and physiological indicators were higher than IVF-28,indicating that X-T-G had high tolerance to Cd stress than IVF-28.

Key words: Oriental melon, Cadmium, Seedling, Growth, Physiological

CLC Number: 

• S652.01