Toxic effects of antimony on the seed germination and seedlings accumulation in Raphanus sativus L. radish and Brassica napus L.

The germination and growth of seedlings are not only essential stages in plant growth but also indicator of environmental stress. Evaluation of seed germination and early seedling in order to improve the understanding of influential processes of exogenic substances. This study aimed to reveal the possible toxicity of antimony (Sb) using Raphanus sativus L. Radish (radish) and Brassica napus L. (rape) seeds as the experimental materials. With Sb concentrations ranging from 2 to 100 mg/L, the seed germination and seedlings growth were investigated by calculating the germination rate, germinative energy, germination index, vitality index and root elongation. The results indicated that Sb exhibited different levels of toxicity to different plants. The low concentration of Sb increased the germination rate and germination index of rape seeds, whereas high concentrations of Sb sharply decreased the germination rate and germination index when the Sb was greater than 10 mg/L. The radish seeds remained almost constant. The germinative energy of both seeds exhibited the same change. In addition, the root elongation was more sensitive to the antimony pollution than the germination rate was. The vitality index decayed exponentially as the Sb concentration increased for both species of seed. These results have significant ecological meaning in assessing the toxicity of Sb.