Proceedings of the XLV Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy - 26/29 September, 2001

ISBN 88-900622-1-5

Poster Abstract

EFFECT OF LEAD ON GROWING AND DRY MATTER PRODUCTION IN DIFFERENT TOBACCO VARIETIES EXPERIMENTALLY EXPOSED TO LEAD*

DEL PIANO L., ABET M., SORRENTINO C., CUCINIELLO A., COZZOLINO E.

Istituto Sperimentale per il Tabacco, Via P. Vitiello 66, Scafati, Salerno, Italy

istgenetica@uniserv.uniplan.it

tobacco, lead

A greenhouse study was conducted to evalue lead distribution and accumulation in tobacco plants, experimentally exposed to the heavy metal, and to reveal possible differences depending on variety and/or type. In this paper the data concerning the effect of lead on growing and dry matter production in the tobacco lines tested, are reported.

The greenhouse trial was carried out according to a completely randomized experimental design with 10 replications, 6 varieties, belonging to 3 tobacco types, and 5 salt exposure treatments: distilled water (control), Pb(NO₃)₂ (2 rates) and KNO₃ (2 rates). 70 days-old seedlings of the following Nicotiana tabacum varieties: IST Bu23 and IST G94-2 (Burley tobaccos); IST G19 and IST G165 (Bright tobaccos); IST Pr61 and IST P2B (Oriental tobaccos) were transplanted to pots filled with peat. Three days before transplanting water solutions of the salt treatments were applied to pots. For all varieties, five picking were carried out and at the end of the vegetative cycle the plants were dissected into stalk and root.

In the first growth phase (about 30 days from transplanting), for all varieties, a delay in development was observed for all treatments, compared with the control. In the subsequent period, a progressive recovery in growth, except for the higher lead treatment, was registered.

Generally, compared with the treatments having the same nitrate level, lead negatively affected the height of the plants and the dry matter production of the different parts of the plant, even if the effect on leaf dry matter production was statistically significant only at the higher lead exposure rate. A significant effect of lead on the examined parameters, depending on variety, was also observed.

*This research was carried out with financial support of the Commission of the European Community, Tobacco and Information and Research Fund, project 96/T/35 “Monitoring and minimizing heavy metal contents in tobacco”. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission and in no way anticipates its future in this area.