Ecophysiological Studies of A Cereal Crop Oryza sativa L. with Zinc Stress

Abstract

Plants exposed to zinc stress at high concentration inhibit seed germination, seedling growth and development. The germination data showed that there is a negative impact of concentration of zinc sulphate on the germination of seeds. Root and shoot growth of seedlings was worse affected when exposed to higher concentration on ZnSO4. Shoots were more affected than roots. Morphologically they look different from normal roots by their shape and size. Zn toxicity inhibits the chlorophyll formation and with the increase in concentration of the toxicant the exposed seedlings showed a decline in chl-a (chlorophyll-a), chl-b (chlorophyll – b) and total chlorophyll pigment content. Conclusively, our result shows that zinc sulphate at higher concentration decreases seed germination, chl-a, chl-b and total chlorophyll content and also decreases root and shoot growth of plants.