Abstract

Abstract Heavy metals stress particularly cadmium contamination is hotspot among researchers and considered highly destructive for both plants and human health. Iron is examined as most crucial element for plant development, but it is available in inadequate amount because they are present in insoluble Fe 3+ form in soil. Fe 3 O 4 have been recently found as growth promoting factor in plants. To understand, a sand pot experiment was conducted in completely randomized design (control, cadmium, 20 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles,40 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles, 20 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles + cadmium, 40 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles + cadmium) to study the mitigating role of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles on cadmium stress in three Raphanus sativus c ultivars namely i.e., MOL SANO, MOL HOL PARI, MOL DAQ WAL. The plant growth, physiological and biochemical parameters i.e.,shoot length, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root length, root fresh and dry weight, MDA content, soluble protein contents, APX, CAT, POD activities and ion concentrations, membrane permeability, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and anthocyanin content, respectively were studied. The results displayed that cadmium stress remarkably reduces all growth, physiological and biochemical parameters for allcultivars under investigation. However, Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles mitigated the adverse effect of cadmium by improving growth, biochemical and physiological attributes in all radish cultivars. While, 20 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles have been proved to be more useful against cadmium stress. The outcome of present investigation displayed that Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles can be utilized for mitigating heavy metal stress.