Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and corn (Zea mays) were used as the experimental material, and effects of
lanthanum on the growth
and metabolism of these crop
seedling under cadmium stress were studied by water culture. The result from the experiment shows that the bean and corn seedling is chronically harmed by 30 and 300 μmol·L~(-1) Cd~(2+) respectively. Meanwhile, its height, main root become shorter, leaf area becomes smaller, fresh and dry weight of leaf, stem and root compared to controls are decreased. With acute damage of Cd~(2+), physiological and biochemical characteristics of seedling are changed greatly, such as chlorophyll content and root activity are dropped. On the other hand cell membrane permeability, the malonydialdehyde (MDA) content, activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) are increased. And with longer treatment time, the damage becomes more serious. When 10, 30 mg·L~(-1) La is used to spray on the bean and corn seedling under cadmium stress once. The growth and metabolism of the seedling is obviously reconditioned and the damage of Cd pollution is reduced. The experiment result demonstrates that La can improve chlorophyll content and reduce cell membrane permeability and content of MDA, which can keep the activities of CAT and POD of the bean and corn seedling.