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Studies Under The Effect Of Cadmium (Cd) On Morphological And Yield

Attributes Of Trigonella Foenum-Graecum L.

Neha Naaz*, Sana Choudhary, Nidhi Sharma and Nazarul Hasan

Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, 202002, India.
*Email of corresponding author : nehanaaz440@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Upon increased anthropogenic activities, soils are contaminated with heavy metals which are

of critical concern in agricultural productions. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is

an aromatic medicinal herb of family Fabaceae; its leaves and seeds have been exploited
immensely for medicinal purposes. The current study summarizes the response of an

environmental pollutant i.e., Cd with different concentrations ranging 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100
ppm on morphological and yield parameters of Trigonella. Therefore, seed germination, plant

survival, pollen fertility and morphological attributes were notably reduced with increasing

Cd concentrations. The maximum reduction was noticed at higher concentration i.e., 80 and
100 ppm. Consequently, heavy metal is considered as a convenient indicator of tolerance and

overcome the inimical outcomes of the metals in the environment on plants.
Keywords: - Heavy metal, Cadmium, Fenugreek, Morphological attributes, SEM

INTRODUCTION
Excessive advancements in industrialization and urbanization activities including mining and

smelting processes, the excess release of major environmental pollutants such as heavy

metals are responsible for soil contamination in turn effecting the plants thus degrading the
environment (Menon et al., 2016). Heavy metals possess metallic properties with moderately

high densities. Cadmium (Cd), the phytotoxic element residing in pesticides is not
advantageous and diminishes the crop productivity if their concentration rises beyond optimal

values (Tiwari and Lata, 2018; Ghori et al., 2019). Cadmium brings about metabolic

disorders and morphological aberrations resulting in yield reduction. These aberrations are
known to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Choudhary et al., 2012; Amari et al.,

2017). Plants under metal stress negatively effects the growth due to heavy metal
accumulation (Menon et al., 2016).

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is an annual leguminous herb of fabaceae family

widely grown in middle eastern countries. It’s leaves and seeds are extensively consumed as
condiment in food preparations due to its aroma and flavour. Fenugreek seeds are rich in L-

tryptophan rich proteins, lysine etc. which possess therapeutic properties (Sadak, 2019). It has

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