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Authors
Affiliations
1 Department of Botany, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, IN
2 Department of Botany, Gangathar Meher College, Sambalpur, Odisha, IN
Source
Nature Environment and Pollution Technology, Vol 13, No 1 (2014), Pagination: 173-176
Abstract
Heavy metal contamination has been incriminated to affect the physiological processes in plants and induces phytotoxicity at higher concentrations. The present investigation was carried out to assess the effect of 10-fold increase in concentrations of mercury on seed germination, seedling growth and biochemical parameters in axis and cotyledon of Raphanus sativus. The seeds sterilized by 80% ethanol were pre-soaked in 10-5, 10-3 and 10-2 M concentrations of HgCl2 for 24 hr. The control seeds were soaked in distilled water. These seeds were plated in moist filter paper and were kept in dark chamber at 25±2°C for 96 hours. Germination of seeds was recorded at 24 hr interval up to 96hr. The ischolar_main and the shoot length were recorded in 48, 72, 96 and 120hr of radical emergence. R. sativus seeds showed 85, 77, 51 and 1% germination in control, 10-5, 10-3, 10-2 M mercury treated seeds, respectively after 24hr of plating. There was a significant inhibition of germination percent at 10-3 and 10-2 M Hg concentration. Maximum seedling growth was observed in control and minimum in 10-3 Hg during 120hr of seedling growth. Hg (10-5 and 10-3 M) inhibited hypocotyls growth by 10 to 40%, and radical growth by 15 to 50% as compared to control. The starch, sugar and amylase activity in the axis significantly (P<0.05) reduced with exposure of seed to 10-3 M concentration of mercury. It was concluded that the higher concentration of mercury significantly affects the seed germination and seedling growth.
Keywords
Mercury, Raphanus sativus, Seedlings, Phytotoxicity.
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