Mina Taghizadeh - Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran
Mousa Solgi - Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran
Maryam Karimi - Department of Medical Biotechnology, National Institute of genetic engineering and biotechnology, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Hosein Sanati - Department of Medical Biotechnology, National Institute of genetic engineering and biotechnology, Tehran, Iran

Background & Aims of the Study: The objective of this study was to investigate the seed pretreatmentwith salicylic acid (SA) on tolerance and remediation ability of Brassica oleracea var.acephala under lead and zinc stresses.Materials and Methods: Present study was conducted to evaluate phyto-accumulative ability ofBrassica oleracea var. acephala in heavy metal concentrations. After seed disinfection, the seedswere soaked in the solution of SA (0, 200 and 300 mgL-1) for 6 hours and cultured in media withdifferent concentrations ZnSO4 and Pb(NO3) (0, 50, 100 and 200 mgL-1). Some germinationindices such as the shoot to root ratio, leaf width, fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll content andabsorption of heavy metal by seedling were investigated, after 14 days.Results: The results showed that with increasing metal density, almost all of germination indicesdecreased significantly in comparison with the control. The most heavy metals accumulation wasobserved in seed pre-treatment with 300 mg L-1 SA and 100 mg L-1 metals treatment. Byincreasing the concentration of lead and zinc in the medium, the accumulation of metals wasincreased significantly in the plants. So, in the treatment of 100 mg L-1 of each metal, theaccumulation of lead and zinc were 8500.5 and 1085.1 mg kg-1 in dry weight respectively.Conclusions: The results show that that ornamental Kale can be used as a hyperaccumulatorplant for lead and zinc in polluted regions in this study. The Ornamental kale would be a highbiomass crop that can accumulate the contaminant of lead and zinc in the soil.

Germination indices, Heavy metals, Ornamental Kale, Salicylic acid, Iran