Variations of Cadmium Accumulation and Translocation in Different Pakchoi Cultivars and Screening for Cd-Pollution-Safe Cultivars Using Cluster Analysis

Screening and breeding of pollution-safe cultivars (PSCs) has become one of the most direct and cost-effective methods for reducing the health risks of heavy metal-contaminated soil. In this paper we identified and screened out cadmium (Cd)-pollution-safe pakchoi cultivars from 30 pakchoi genetype materials through preliminary screening experiments and re-screening experiments in field conditions. We found that in preliminary screening experiments, the Cd uptake displayed significant variability among the 30 selected pakchoi cultivaters grown in soil with a Cd concentration of 0.51 mg/kg. 11 out of the 30 pakchoi cultivars belonged to the low-Cd accumulated cluster classified by cluster analysis, which had the potential to be Cd-PSCs. The re-screening experiments under different Cd levels of contaminated soils in combination with the studies of the enrichment factors (EFs) and translocation factors (TFs) further confirmed the consistency and genotypic stability of the low-Cd accumulating traits of the potential Cd-PSCs. This study proves the feasibility of applying cluster analysis in the process of identifying PSCs.