The permeability of plasma membrane, a marker of cell
membrane’s integrity, can be monitored indirectly through
measuring the changes in conductivity (Fig. 4). We found that the
Al treatments increased the permeability of plasma membrane of
the roots of both cultivars, but there were significant differences in
how the membrane permeability changed between the cultivars.
As the external Al increased to 90 mg L1 Al concentration, the
membrane permeability in Z.2 increased to 50.27%. The membrane
system in Z.3 seemed to be more vulnerable to Al toxicity, as the
maximum membrane permeability of 54.9% was observe when the
external Al was only 60 mg L1.