Toxicologia Ambiental e Analítica

Amelioration of Lead Toxicity in Pisum sativum (L.) by Foliar Application of Salicylic Acid

Abstract

Ghani A, Khan I, Ahmed I, Mustafa I, Abd-Ur-Rehman and Muhammad N

Lead is very toxic heavy metal and commonly found in the polluted soil and water. It harms the plants as well as animals and micro-organisms. Presence of lead in the soil may be the main reason for decrease in the agricultural products. Lead (Pb) is a toxic heavy metal released into the natural environment and known to cause oxidative damage and alter antioxidant mechanism in plants. Lead (Pb) is one of the most important heavy metals frequently available in the environment and its most common sources are vehicles and automobiles. However, not much is known about the interference of Pb with the biochemical processes and carbohydrate metabolism during seed germination. Lead enters the plants through soil and damages the mechanisms of plants and when animals eat these plants then lead transfer in them and cause major disorders. This study was conducted to find out the compounds with antitoxic properties. An experiment was conducted to reveal the antitoxic effect of Salicylic acid in Pea (Pisum sativum L.). It was noticed that Salicylic Acid showed its action selectively in Pea (Pisum sativum L.) and it was detected that salicylic acid displayed selective action on plant growth parameters in pea. The highest plant height 61.34 cm was observed after 44 days of the combined application of lead and salicylic acid and lowest value for plant height i.e., 7.15 cm was observed after 20 days of the combined application of lead and salicylic acid similarly highest numbers of tendrils (29.34) were observed after the 44 days of combined application of lead and salicylic acid. The same trend was observed with respect to number of leaves i.e., 45.78 and 13.56 after 44 and 20 days respectively.