Ajay Kumar1, Neha Yadav, Mamta Sawariya, Naveen Kumar, Himanshu Mehra, Sunil Kumar and Sunder Singh Arya
Abstract
Phytoremediation, particularly phytoextraction, shows promise in addressing this issue. Phytoextraction involves plants absorbing contaminants from the soil through their roots and transferring them to their shoots and leaves. However, in polluted environments, certain metals like lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) may have limited bioavailability, posing significant challenges to the phytoextraction process. One way to overcome this limitation is by applying chelators. The experiment conducted in a randomized block design to investigate the effects of two chelators, EDTA and salicylic acid (SA), in enhancing the anthocyanin, flavanoid and yield attributing parameters of Brassica juncea L. The seeds were sown in pots and subjected to various treatments of Cd and Pb of concentrations 10 and 20 mM, either alone and in combination with 0.5 mM EDTA and SA. The toxicity induced by Pb and Cd in B. juncea was recorded through increased levels of flavonoid and anthocyanin content and decreased value of yield parameters. Additionally, various yield parameters including 100 seed test weight, number of flower plant-1, number of pod plant-1, number of seeds plant-1 were highly affected by stress. Conversely, the supplementation of EDTA and SA to Cd, Pbtreated plants effectively mitigated negative impact of heavy metal stress by increasing flavonoid and anthocyanin content, along with yield parameter. Notably EDTA and SA also led to a significant increase in Pb and Cd accumulation.