Advance in Cadmium Toxicity to Tobacco and its Resistance Mechanism

In recent years, the heavy metal in tobacco leaves has caused increasing public concern and been both domestic and international research focus on tobacco. Tobacco could readily uptake cadmium from soils. The cadmium accumulation by tobacco in polluted soils is becoming one of the most important factors which affect the tobacco quality and security. The cadmium stress in soils could not only affect the physiological process and reduce the quality of tobacco, but also it is harmful to smokers. In this paper, the growth, physiological characteristics and quality performances of tobacco with the cadmium uptake are reviewed, and the cadmium resistance mechanism is discussed and some integrated approaches to reduce the uptake of cadmium by tobacco are suggested for further research.