Cadmium uptake in field pea cultivars grown under French and Swedish conditions

We investigated the response of field pea, Pisum sativum, to cadmium in soil using 24 pea cultivars and 11 locations situated in France and Sweden. The pea kernels had an average cadmium content of 0.036 ppm. The mean cadmium uptake of the individual pea cultivars did not differ between locations. The cultivar Laser had the highest mean uptake, 0.066 ppm cadmium, while the cultivar Callisto had the lowest uptake, 0.021 ppm cadmium. The highest mean uptake of cadmium was achieved in the field with the second highest level of cadmium (0.39 ppm in soil). The lowest mean uptake of cadmium was obtained in the field with the third highest cadmium content (0.32 ppm). No differences existed between the French and Swedish locations with respect to cadmium uptake in the peas. All cultivars investigated responded in terms of cadmium uptake to the differences in cadmium exposure occurring at the different locations. We suggest that when breeding peas for improved tolerance to cadmium exposure, differences in the genetic material should be carefully investigated and exploited. Our study demonstrates that the cadmium uptake of peas is not dependent on the exact chemical levels of cadmium in soils under such low levels of cadmium as in the present study.