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Pak. J. Bot., 47(5): 1679-1684, 2015.

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EFFECT OF HEAVY METAL AND EDTA APPLICATION ON PLANT GROWTH AND PHYTO-EXTRACTION POTENTIAL OF SORGHUM (SORGHUM BICOLOR)

NAFEES BACAHA,^*1, RABIA SHAMAS_,¹ JEHAN BAKHT,² ABDUR RAFI,³ FARHATULLAH⁴ AND AFSHEENA GILLANI⁵

Abstract: Pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the phyto-extraction capacity of heavy metals by Sorghum. Sorghum bicolor was grown in soil artificially contaminated with different concentrations of lead (300, 350 and 400 mg/kg), chromium (50, 100 and 150 mg/kg) and cadmium (100, 150 and 200 mg/kg). Five mM EDTA was applied, as chelating agent to the plants after 4 weeks of sowing. Plants were grown for a total of two months and fresh weight and  dry weight of shoot and heavy metal accumulation were analyzed at six and eight weeks after sowing. The results revealed that application of cadmium, chromium and lead and EDTA adversely affected shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight of S. bicolor at both time intervals.  Heavy metals uptake increased with the increment of heavy metal by S. bicolor species. Application of 5mM EDTA enhanced the uptake of heavy metal.

Key words: Heavy metal, EDTA, Cd, Pb, Cr, Phyto-extraction, Sorghum biocolor.

¹Centre of Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan

²Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan

³Department of Plant Pathology, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan

⁴Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan

⁵Department of Food Science and Technology, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan

*Corresponding author e-mail: nafeesbacha@upesh.edu.pk