Abstract
The effect of different levels (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/L) of arsenic (as sodium arsenate and sodium arsenite) on germination percentage, mean germination time, days to 50% germination, plumule and radicle length and seedling vigour index of four sunflower cultivars (FH-331, FH-385, FH-405 and FH-415) was determined under laboratory conditions. Germination percentage was gradually decreased with the increase in arsenic concentration in case of all sunflower cultivars. Low concentrations (2 and 4 mg/L arsenic) increased while higher concentrations (6, 8 and 10 mg/L arsenic) posed stress and caused reduction in plumule and radicle length (mm) of seedlings as compared to control. Out of all the four sunflower cultivars, H1 (FH-331) proved the most sensitive one by giving least values for plumule length, radicle length and seedling vigour index as observed during the course of this experiment. Key words: Sodium arsenate, sodium arsenite, sunflower, seed germination, seedling growth.
Highlights
Environmental pollution has been proved to be one of byproducts of industrial revolution and modern technology strengthened by over population and mismanagement of resources
Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for all parameters revealed significant differences for sunflower hybrids, different treatments and interaction of hybrids and treatments for both sodium arsenate and sodium arsenite used for arsenic treatments application (Table 1)
Considerable decrease in germination percentage was recorded with increasing level of arsenic in all the four sunflower cultivars used in this experiment as stated by Ahmad et al (2009) that higher concentrations of heavy metals suppresses the seed germination parameters
Summary
Environmental pollution has been proved to be one of byproducts of industrial revolution and modern technology strengthened by over population and mismanagement of resources. Arsenic (As) a ubiquitous, carcinogenic trace metalloid (Pigna et al, 2009) found in virtually all environmental media (Fitz and Wenzel, 2002). Arsenic exists in the environment in various organic and inorganic forms (species) (Mandal et al, 2011). The most important inorganic species are arsenate (As5+) and arsenite (As3+). Its toxicity to plants depends on its valence state. Due to greater cellular uptake, As+3 is 60 times more soluble, mobile and toxic than As5+ (Giri and Patel, 2012). Arsenic concentration varies in the environment, from less than 1 mg/kg to as high as 100,000 mg/kg in soil (Liu et al, 2002) and one in every 60 people on the planet is living in an area where 50 μg/L or above of arsenic is in ground water (Tibbetts, 2000)
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