Cadmium is one of the heavy metals which has harmful effects on the quality of crop production. It is mobile element in environment and the plants can absorb cadmium easily and move it to their different organs -Ahmad et al., 2015-. Mycorrhizal fungi cause to improve the growth of plants and decrease heavy metal uptake in plants -Wu et al., 2014-. In order to study the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on some growth and physiological characteristics of sweet basil -Ocimum basilicum L. cv. Keshkeni Luvelou- grown in cadmium polluted soil, a pot factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications was performed in greenhouse of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran in 2017. The treatments were comprised two types of mycorrhizal fungi -control, Claroideoglomus etunicatum, Funnetiformis mosseae- and three cadmium levels -0, 20 and 40 mg/kg-. The results showed that at the highest cadmium concentration -40 mg/kg-, using C. etunicatum mycorrhizal fungi caused to increase fresh and dry weight of aerial parts, plant height, stem diameter and decrease electrolyte leakage, protein, malondialdehyde -MDA- content and catalase -CAT- activity. Also, at 40 mg/kg cadmium treatment, F. mosseae application caused to increase photosynthetic pigments, whereas ascorbate peroxidase -APX-, guaiacol peroxidase -GPX-, superoxide dismutase -SOD- activities and proline content was reduced. In total, the findings of this experiment indicated that mycorrhizal fungi usage caused to increase the growth and tolerance of basil under cadmium pollution conditions.

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