Comparative screening of cadmium stress responses among three rice cultivars

Plants are frequently confronted with heavy metal stress, which is one of the major environmental concerns in agriculture. Cadmium is a potent toxic and hazardous soil contaminant that is introduced into the atmosphere by industrial pollution. It can impose detrimental effects on plant growth, crop productivity and quality. To evaluate Cd-induced physio-biochemical stress response, a comparative study was conducted with three rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars (‘Maharaj’, ‘Pratiksha’ and ‘Khitish’) treated with 10 µM CdCl2. Cytotoxicity assessments were performed to determine cell death rates. The study confirmed that cv. ‘Maharaj’ was the most Cd stress tolerant due to high proline, phytochelatin, and antioxidant concentration, resulting in lower cell death rate. Cv. ‘Pratiksha’ was moderately tolerant while cv. ‘Khitish’ was more susceptible to Cd stress, showing drastic reduction in cysteine and sugar concentration, and Hill activity, with noticeable increase of lipid peroxidation, methylglyoxal and starch concentration.