Page 475 - e-Book

OD645, OD663, OD480, OD510 are the optical densities by 645, 663, 480 and 510 nm

respectively; V, the volume of an extract; W, the mass of leaf tissues; d, the length of light
path (1.4cm).

SEM analysis:
The youngest fully developed leaves of fenugreek were selected for this study and the

replicas were made of the abaxial surface from the middle of the leaf close to the midrib. The
leaves are chemically fixed, dehydrated and the replicas are transferred on an aluminium stub

and coated with gold for 4 min in a sputter coater (Matthaeus et al., 2020). The micrographs

are acquired from the replicas in a scanning electron microscope at USIF, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh.

Statistical analysis:

This experiment was carried out with five replicates of each treatment and the data was
statistically analyzed using SPSS 16.0 software. The significant difference was estimated

amongst the treatments by performing Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) at p˂0.05. The
data are represented as mean±SE.

RESULTS:
Seed germination, plant survival and pollen fertility

Effect of cadmium on seed germination, plant survival and pollen fertility of Trigonella is

presented in figure 1. The maximum germination, survival and pollen fertility was observed
in control i.e., 95.40, 88 and 92.1 and decreased in the treated population from 82.2-58.8,

76.2-49.8 and 82-55.62 in 20-100 ppm Cd respectively. The most pronounced inhibitory
effect was recorded at the highest concentration (100ppm). Metal stress on gemination,

survival and pollen fertility decrease the values in dose dependent manner.

Chlorophyll and carotenoid content
Our results indicated that the amount of pigment content was affected by metal stress.

Chlorophyll and carotenoid content were highest in control (2.67 mg g-1 FW and 0.52 mg g-
1 FW) respectively and decline as the concentration of metal increases. The chlorophyll and

carotenoid content shows reduction from (2.32-0.73 mg g-1 FW) and (0.50-0.29 mg g-1 FW)

in 20 to 100 ppm, respectively. Thus, it was noticed that chlorophyll content was affected
more in comparison to carotenoids (figure 2).

465