Fig. 1

Zn and Cd accumulation in shoots and roots. Rice plants were hydroponically grown and exposed for a 10-day period to increasing Zn external concentrations (from 0.1 to 10 μM), in the absence or presence of 0.1 μM Cd²⁺ (a-d), or to different Cd concentrations (from 0 to 1 μM) in the presence of 1 μM Zn²⁺ (e-h). a and b Zn concentration in shoots and roots in the absence (white bars) and in the presence (grey bars) of a steady amount of Cd. c and d Cd concentration in shoots and roots in the presence of a steady amount of Cd. E and F, Zn concentration in shoots and roots in the presence of a steady amount of Zn. g and h Cd concentration in shoots and roots in the presence of a steady amount of Zn. Bars and error bars are means and SE of three experiments run in triplicate (n = 9). Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments (P < 0.05). Asterisks indicate significant differences between plants exposed or not to 0.1 μM Cd²⁺ (P ≤ 0.001). ND, not detectable; DW, dry weight