Author(s)

Khalid H. Alobaidi¹, Elena B. Bashmakova², Valentina P. Kholodova²

¹Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Applied Biotechnology, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq.
²Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.

One of the most important challenges in the ecosystem nowadays is the adaptation of plants to damaged environmental factors. Among them, an important attention is paid to the toxic effects of high concentrations of heavy metals (HM). Copper is essentially but highly toxic HM. In the work, first we established, plant's resistance comparison of the two studied Brassica species Brassica—B. alba, and B. napus—in higher concentrations of copper in the environment, and demonstrated that the two plants were potentially useful for phytoremediation of moderately polluted areas with copper. In plants of the genus Brassica grow in a hydroponic culture, experiments showed that the tested species referred to indicator plants. Results show the stability of the studied plants to the toxic effects of excessive copper levels, due to their proline accumulation ability. Studied plants, B. alba, and B. napus, can be used in selection practice as baselines to generate new plant varieties with increased resistance to heavy metals salts.

Brassica alba, Brassica napus, Resistance to Copper, Phytoremediation

Alobaidi, K. , Bashmakova, E. and Kholodova, V. (2015) Response of Two Brassica Species to the Toxic Effect of Different Copper Concentration. Journal of Environmental Protection, 6, 719-725. doi: 10.4236/jep.2015.67065.