Impact Of Arsenic on Pisum sativum and Its Amelioration Using Phosphate

Abstract

The study examines the impact of arsenic on seed germination and seedling growth of Pisum sativum (pea) across different concentrations of arsenic from 0 to 30 ppm and evaluates the mitigating role of phosphate for arsenic toxicity. The toxic heavy metal significantly reduced germination rates (70.6-2.3%), root (4.83-0.76cm) and shoot lengths(3.04- 0.5cm), fresh cotyledon (0.48-0.53g),root(0.13-0.002g) and shoot (0.11-0.01g) weight and dry root(0.44-0.012g), shoot (0.10-0.03g) and cotyledon weights (0.33-0.36g) of plant with severe impacts at 20 ppm and above. Amendment with 40 ppm  Phosphate greatly improved all the growth indices viz germination percentage(73.7-11.8%), root (6.45-1.38cm) and shoot(4.45-1.94cm) length, fresh cotyledon (0.53-0.57g) root(0.28-0.041g) and shoot (0.28-0.10g) weight and dry root(0.05-0.02g), shoot (0.14-0.047g) and cotyledon weights (0.415-0.43g) enhancing plant resilience to arsenic stress. However at higher concentration the toxic effect of As were more pronounced and amendment of 40ppm Phosphate helps the plant to bear toxicity of As at lower concentration highlighting the potential of amendments in managing contamination.