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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Heavy Metals in the Environment

The Role of Nitrilotriacetate in Copper Uptake by Tobacco

^a Swiss Federal Research Station for Agroecology and Agriculture, Liebefeld, Schwarzenburgstrasse 155, CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland
^b Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITO), ETH Zurich, Grabenstrasse 3, CH-8952 Schlieren, Switzerland
^c Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITO), ETH Zürich, Grabenstrasse 3, CH-8952 Schlieren, Switzerland

^* Corresponding author (wenger{at}ito.umnw.ethz.ch).

Received for publication February 1, 2001. In growth chamber experiments we studied the effect of nitrilotriacetate (NTA) on Cu uptake by tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). Plants were exposed for 6 d to 126 µM Cu and 500 µM NTA in nutrient solutions without and with 10 g L^-1 montmorillonite. Approximately seven times less Cu was dissolved in the montmorillonite solutions than in the nutrient solutions alone. In the absence of NTA, montmorillonite effectively competed with plant roots for Cu, although Cu remained bound to the roots. Nitrilotriacetate increased Cu uptake and translocation into shoots of tobacco by a factor of 3.5 from the nutrient solution and by a factor of 26 from the montmorillonite nutrient solution. Neither growth reduction nor any other visible sign of Cu toxicity was found in the presence of NTA with Cu concentrations of 190 mg kg^-1 in the shoots. In the absence of NTA, high Cu concentrations in root samples led to a brownish discoloration of the roots.

Abbreviations: EDTA, ethylendiaminetetraacetate • NTA, nitrilotriacetate

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This Issue in Journal of Environmental Quality

JEQ 2003 32: 1577-1582. [Full Text]