Variation for cadmium uptake among Nicotiana species

Fifty nine species of Nicotiana were tested for the potential to take up cadmium from soil either with a natural cadmium content of 0.15 ppm or enriched with 8 mg Cd per 1 kg soil added as Cd(NO₃)₂. When grown on the soil with natural cadmium content the highest leaf absorbers of cadmium were N. raimondii (6.15 ppm), N. bigelovii (5.47 ppm) and the botanical varieties of N. tabacum (3.92 – 5.75 ppm); the highest root absorber was N. rosulata (3.17 ppm). On the soil with an addition of 8 mg cadmium/kg the highest leaf cadmium contents were in N. langsdorfii (116.28 ppm), N. plumbaginifolia (99.49 ppm), N. setchellii (94.16 ppm) N. debneyi (69.12 ppm), N. velutina (62.15 ppm) and the highest root cadmium contents in N. miersii (32.2 ppm), N. clevelandii (30.45 ppm) and N. nudicaulis (30.45 ppm). Significant differences between sections were most frequently shown for the cadmium enriched soil and rarely for the control treatments. No significant differences were found between the botanical varieties of the same species when grown on the cadmium enriched vs. natural cadmium soil.