Heavy metal contamination is a major trouble across the world. In India, there have been many reports of heavy metal pollution due to speedy industrialization and urbanization. The Indian brown mustard is an important oil yielding crop. However, the response of Indian mustard at germination and early seedlings stages to heavy metals like cadmium (Cd) stress is not clear. Current work renders a perceptivity into the part played by enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants towards differential response of Cd (0, 0.5, and 1.0 mM doses) stress in mustard cultivars (Pusa bold, Pusa bahar, and Pusa agrani). The results show that irrespective of dose, Cd severely hamper germination and retard the early seedling growth in mustard cultivars. Pusa bold showed comparatively less reduction in seedling growth as compared to Pusa bahar and Pusa argani. Oxidative stress as measured by lipid peroxidation (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), lipoxygenase (LOX), and cell death was significantly less in Pusa bold than Pusa agrani. Chlorophyll and carotenoids’ content was significantly reduced in Pusa agrani compared to Pusa bold. On the other hand, antioxidant metabolites (proline, ascorbate, and glutathione) showed increased accumulation under Cd stress in Indian mustard; also was the case with antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-s-transferase, glutathione reductase, ascorbate peroxidase, and peroxidase), which significantly (p < 0.001) increased in Pusa bold when compared to other two. This work brings into limelight the significant role of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in three varieties of Indian mustard under Cd stress during germination and early seedling growth. The three cultivars in order of decreasing sensitivity to Cd: Pusa agrani > Pusa bahar > Pusa bold

重金属污染是世界范围内的主要问题。在印度，由于工业化和城市化的迅速发展，有许多重金属污染的报道。印度芥菜是重要的油料作物。但是，印度芥菜在发芽和幼苗早期对重金属如镉（Cd）胁迫的反应尚不清楚。当前的工作使酶促和非酶促抗氧化剂对芥菜品种（Pusa bold，Pusa bahar和Pusa agrani）中Cd（0、0.5和1.0 mM剂量）胁迫的差异响应具有感知性。结果表明，无论剂量如何，Cd都会严重阻碍芥菜品种的发芽并阻碍幼苗的早期生长。与Pusa bahar和Pusa argani相比，Pusa bold显示出幼苗生长的减少相对较少。₂ Ò ₂），脂氧合酶（LOX），和细胞死亡是普萨显著小于普萨agrani粗体。与Pusa bold相比，Pusa agrani中的叶绿素和类胡萝卜素含量显着降低。另一方面，印度芥菜在镉胁迫下抗氧化剂代谢产物（脯氨酸，抗坏血酸和谷胱甘肽）显示出增加的积累。还用抗氧化物酶的情况下（超氧化物歧化酶，过氧化氢酶，谷胱甘肽-S-转移酶，谷胱甘肽还原酶，抗坏血酸过氧化物酶，和过氧化物），其显著（p <0.001）与其他两个相比，Pusa粗体字有所增加。这项工作引起了人们的关注，酶促和非酶促抗氧化剂在发芽和幼苗早期生长的Cd胁迫下对三种印度芥菜品种的重要作用。三种对Cd敏感性降低的品种依次为：Pusa agrani> Pusa bahar> Pusa bold