The growths of two rice genotypes(Jin23A and CDR22) under the coexistence of As and Cr in solution culture with and without P were investigated.The result showed that rice shoot dry weight decreased due to the complex contamination of As and Cr,however,the influences on plant height,root length and root dry weight were insignificant.
Ecological risk assessment of metals in soils is important to develop the critical loads of metals in soils. Phytotoxicity is one of the endpoints for ecological risk assessment of soils contaminated with metals. The sensitivity of eight Chinese plant species（bok choy, mustard, tomato, green chilli, paddy rice, barley, spinach and celery） to copper（Cu） and nickel（Ni） toxicity in two Chinese soils was investigated to assess their potential use for ecological risk assessment in the region. The results showed that bok choy and mustard were the two most sensitive species to Cu and Ni toxicities. Assessment of metal accumulation by the plants demonstrated that bok choy shoot had the highest bioconcentration factor（BCF, the ratio of metal concentration in plant shoots to metal concentration in soil）. Given the importance of bok choy to agricultural production in Asia, it is therefore important that these sensitive plant species are included in species sensitivity distributions for ecological risk assessment of Cu and Ni in soils.
LI BoLIU Ji-fangYANG Jun-xingMA Yi-bingCHEN Shi-bao
