Antioxidative Defence Responses in Brassica juncea Plants Exposed to Cadmium Toxicity

Dhriti Kapoor, Renu Bhardwaj

Abstract: In the present study, effect of cadmium (Cd) metal on antioxidant potential of Brassica juncea plants was observed. Seeds of Brassica juncea var. RLC-1 were given the treatment of three different concentrations (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6mM) of Cd. Activities of antioxidative enzymes (dehydroascorbate reductase, monodehydroascorbate reductase and glutathione peroxidase) and level of antioxidants (tocopherol and flavonoid) of 90-days old plants was analyzed. Results revealed that antioxidant potential of B. juncea plants were found to improve in terms of enhanced activities of enzymes and antioxidant content under Cd stress. Therefore, present piece of work suggested that treatment of Cd activated defence strategies in Brassica juncea plants to overcome the stress.

Keywords: Brassica juncea, heavy metal stress, antioxidants, antioxidative enzymes