Nickel and Zinc Tolerance and Co-Tolerance in Populations of Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Beauv. Subject to Artificial Selection

• Published in: The New phytologist Vol. 125; no. 3; pp. 547 - 553
• Main Authors: Beatrix A. K. von Frenckell-Insam, Hutchinson, Thomas C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.1993; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adaptation to environment and cultivation conditions; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; artificial selection; Biological and medical sciences; co‐tolerance; Deschampsia cespitosa; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on plants and fungi; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; Germany; heavy metal tolerance; Heavy metals; length; Metal tolerance; nickel; Ontario; Plant adaptation; Plant roots; Plants; population; Population growth; roots; Screening tests; Seedlings; Seeds; Varietal selection. Specialized plant breeding, plant breeding aims; Zinc; Ontario; Germany; Monocotyledones; Artificial selection; Tolerance; Soil pollution; Zinc; Heavy metal; Pollutant; Screening; Gramineae; Angiospermae; Genetic improvement; Spermatophyta; Nickel; Fodder crop; Deschampsia cespitosa; nickel; heavy metal tolerance; co-tolerance; zinc
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1993.tb03902.x
• ISSN: 0028-646X; 1469-8137

The occurrence of co-tolerance to four heavy metals was investigated among seedlings selected from three different non-tolerant Canadian and German Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Beauv. populations. Plants selected following screening of seedlings in solution containing Ni or Zn ions, subsequently showed enhanced tolerance to Ni and Zn, respectively. `Nickel screened' seedlings exhibited no increased tolerance to Zn. `Zinc screened' seedlings, in contrast, had somewhat elevated tolerance to Ni in two of the three populations tested (Elm and Cypress Lake). Thus, co-tolerance may be a population-specific rather than a species-specific response. Individual Elm plants screened for Ni response did not have elevated Zn tolerance, whereas `Zn screened' seedlings did show elevated Ni tolerance. This confirms the result from the population tolerance tests. We conclude that co-tolerance is not a reciprocal process. While the selection for one metal may confer elevated tolerance to a second, selection for the second may not confer tolerance to the first.