Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient, which its deficiency is widespread in wheat growing areas of the world particularly in alkaline soils. On the other hand, cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in soils and is readily taken up and accumulated by plants. Similar geochemical and environmental properties of Cd and Zn may lead to their interaction during root uptake and translocation to shoot. Root exudates greatly affect plant uptake, traort from roots to aboveground parts, and accumulation of heavy metals in plant edible parts. Among several substances identified in root exudates, amino acids (AA) have drawn considerable interest due to their role in processes at the root-soil interface such as metal chelating. We investigated the influence of histidine and glycine in nutrient solution on apoplastic and symplastic uptake and root-to-shoot translocation of Zn and Cd in a triticale ( x Triticosecale ) and a bread wheat cultivar. Seedlings of the two species were grown in nutrient solutions and exposed to two levels of Zn (0 and 10 µM) and two levels of Cd (0 and 1 µM) and either 50 µM histidine, 50 µM glycine or no amino acids were added 4 weeks after germination. Control plants were grown with no such supply of Zn or Cd and amino acids. All plants were harvested after 21d exposure to the nutrient and treatment solutions. Higher concentrations of Zn were found in wheat and triticale plants supplied with Zn than in the control plants without Zn supply. Among the treatments with Zn supply, histidine enhanced while glycine reduced symplastic root Zn concentration in bread wheat. Both amino acids decreased the symplastic root Zn concentration but had no effect on apoplasmic Zn in triticale. Both amino acid treatments also reduced Zn concentrations in the xylem sap of the two plant species compared to the treatment with Zn alone. In bread wheat the effect was stronger for glycine than histidine, in triticale it was the same for both amino acids. The concentration of Zn in xylem sap was always greater in wheat than in triticale. Nonetheless, addition of histidine to the nutrient solution resulted in higher total shoot Zn uptake in triticale but not in bread wheat, as compared to the treatment with only Zn, while glycine had no significant effect on shoot Zn uptake in either of the two plant species. The results show that the ability of amino acids to enhance Zn uptake and translocation into the aboveground parts of cereals is not necessarily related to increased xylem loading. Histidine increased while glycine decreased the symplasmic, apoplasmic and total root Cd concentration in wheat. Both amino acids reduced total and symplasmic Cd uptake in triticale. While histidine had no effect on Cd concentration of xylem sap, glycine increased it in wheat. Both amino acids reduced Cd concentration in xylem sap of triticale compared with amino acid-free treatment. Based on the results obtained, the effect of amino acids on root uptake and translocation of metals in plant is dependent on the amino acid type and plant species. Keywords : amino acids, symplasm, heavy metals, apoplasm, traort, xylem sap.