Growth Responses and Photosynthetic Indices of Bamboo Plant (Indocalamus latifolius) under Heavy Metal Stress

Investigating factors involved in the alleviation of the toxic effects of heavy metals (HMs) on plants is regarded as one of the important research concerns in the environmental feld. The southern regions of China are severely impacted by human-induced heavy metal (HM) contamination, which poses an impediment to growth and productivity of bamboo (Indocalamus latifolius) plants. Tis necessitates the investigation of the efects of HMs on growth and physiological properties of bamboo. Terefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate some gas exchange and growth parameters in two-year-old bamboo species under HMs stress. A greenhouse-based experiment was conducted at Nanjing Forestry University, where the bamboo plant was treated with three HMs (Cu, Pb, and Zn) at four diferent concentrations (0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg kg-1). Te results illustrated that excessive HMs (1000 and 2000 mg kg−1) triggered a decline in a number of photosynthetic-related indices including the rate of photosynthesis (�mol CO2 m−2 s −1), intercellular CO2 concentration (�mol CO2 mol−1), conductance to H2O (mol H2O m−2 s −1), and net assimilation as well as transpiration. Morphological indices were also depressed as a result of the adverse infuence of HMs, leading to decreased shoot length (10 to 73%) and reduced number of emerged plants (6 to 57%). Also, the results indicated that Pb had the greatest harmful impact on the growth indices