Table 1. Quantitative changes of selected mineral nutrients in Matricaria chamomilla plants after 48 h of exposure to Cd alone (60 µM) or with the addition of 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (PTIO, 60 µM) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 300 µM).
| Shoot | control | Cd | Cd+PTIO | Cd+SNP |
| K (mg g−1 DW) | 101.5±4.95 a | 98.0±2.23 a | 94.3±5.17 a | 98.9±2.64 a |
| Na (mg g−1 DW) | 5.49±0.13 b | 5.68±0.36 ab | 5.81±0.17 ab | 6.25±0.16 a |
| Ca (mg g−1 DW) | 5.70±0.27 a | 5.74±0.12 a | 5.28±0.20 a | 5.27±0.13 a |
| Mg (mg g−1 DW) | 4.21±0.14 a | 4.45±0.20 a | 4.08±0.19 a | 4.33±0.17 a |
| Fe (mg g−1 DW) | 0.17±0.021 a | 0.15±0.016 a | 0.14±0.017 a | 0.16±0.012 a |
| Zn (µg g−1 DW) | 48.4±4.17 a | 45.9±3.94 ab | 38.5±2.38 b | 38.2±2.85 b |
| Root | ||||
| K (mg g−1 DW) | 100.2±4.67 a | 89.4±2.47 b | 77.2±4.10 c | 79.1±3.68 c |
| Na (mg g−1 DW) | 5.91±0.22 a | 5.82±0.27 a | 5.96±0.33 a | 5.79±0.15 a |
| Ca (mg g−1 DW) | 7.58±0.37 a | 7.51±0.22 a | 7.72±0.29 a | 6.60±0.28 b |
| Mg (mg g−1 DW) | 2.27±0.14 a | 2.10±0.09 ab | 2.03±0.15 ab | 1.89±0.11 b |
| Fe (mg g−1 DW) | 7.60±0.31 a | 7.32±0.27 a | 6.37±0.24 b | 6.09±0.49 b |
| Zn (µg g−1 DW) | 78.6±3.06 a | 46.7±3.55 c | 61.8±2.47 b | 67.8±3.72 b |
Data are means ± SDs (n = 4). Values within rows followed by the same letter(s) are not significantly different according to Tukey’s test (P<0.05). Shoot means whole above-ground biomass.