Plants of high (TL-H) and low (TL-L) Cd-accumulating near-isogenic durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) lines that differ 2.5-fold in grain Cd accumulation were grown from seedlings to physiological grain maturity in chelator-buffered nutrient solution (view time-course of durum wheat growth movie).

Each plant was grown in 10 L of aerated nutrient solution, containing 1.0 mM Ca(NO3)2, 0.3 mM Mg(NO3)2, 0.3 mM NH4NO3, 0.25 mM KNO3, 0.1 mM K2HPO4, 0.1 mM K2SO4, 50 µM KCl, 100 µM Fe(NO3)3, 10 µM H3BO3, 10 µM ZnSO4, 2 µM CuSO4, 1 µM MnSO4, 0.5 µM CdCl2, 0.2 µM Na2MoO4, 0.1 µM NiCl2, 138 µM HEDTA [N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediaminetriacetic acid], 1.42 mM KOH, and 2 mM MES [2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid] buffer (pH 6.0). The calculated free Cd2+ activity was 14.4 pM.

All plants were tagged at initiation of anthesis (after ~7-8 wks growth), and individual plants were harvested at anthesis, and at 1, 2, 4 and 6 wks post-anthesis (view durum wheat plant movie). Harvested plants were divided into roots and ten different shoot tissues. Dry weight and Cd concentration (GF-AAS analysis of acid digests) were measured in each tissue.

The dry weight and Cd concentration data were used to complete a whole-plant Cd mass-balance for the high and low Cd-accumulating isolines during grain filling. To view the data set for a particular tissue click on the tissue label.