Evaluation of resistance calli cultures of lawn grass for copper, cadmium and use of these results in ecological biotechnology

Evaluation of the toxicity of heavy metals in cell culture is important in ecological phytobiotechnology. These studies allow us to estimate the limits of cell tolerance to these toxicants and to use the data obtained in the development of cell selection schemes for the production of plants resistant to heavy metals. The aim of the work was to assess the phytotoxicity of copper and cadmium for callus cultures of lawn grasses. A higher degree of toxicity of cadmium in comparison with that of copper for calli of lawn grasses was shown. Significant death of calli was observed at a copper content of 100-150 mg,/l, cadmium 10 mg/l. Significantly smaller differences in the degree of phytotoxicity of cadmium and copper were shown for plants. When developing ecological biotechnological schemes for obtaining plants resistant to these toxicants, one must take into account a very high level of cadmium toxicity for cells, as compared with that of copper. It is desirable to use relatively low concentrations of cadmium in the first passage at the cultivation stage.