Effect of sugar mill effluent on growth and antioxidative potential of maize seedling
2013
Hussain, I. (Government Coll. Univ., Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany) | Iqbal, M. (Government Coll. Univ., Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany) | Nawaz, M. (Government Coll. Univ., Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany) | Rasheed, R. (Government Coll. Univ., Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany) | Perveen, A. (Government Coll. Univ., Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany) | Mahmood, S. (Government Coll. Univ., Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany) | Yasmeen, A. (Bahauddin Zakariya Univ., Multan (Pakistan). Dept. of Agronomy) | Wahid, A. (University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany)
The effects of sugar mill effluent (SME) on plant growth and biochemical attributes of two maize cultivars (Pak-Afgoi and EV-5098) were evaluated in a pot experiment. The maize kernels were sown in soil-filled pots. After 15 days of germination, maize seedlings were irrigated with four different concentrations (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% v/v) of SME. The seedlings irrigated with half strength of Hoaglands' nutrient solution (0% SME) served as control. The data for various attributes were collected after 15 days of treatments. Although high concentrations of SME decreased the growth, the low concentration (25%) of SME was very effective in increasing the growth of both maize cultivars when compared with control. The increase in growth was associated with increased photosynthetic pigments, carotenoids, anthocyanins, total free proline and total free amino acids in both cultivars. The results indicated that the increase in SME concentration caused a marked increase in relative membrane permeability (RMP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) contents, activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in both cultivars. The increase in antioxidative potential enabled maize plants to withstand SME-induced oxidative stress. However, cv. Pak-Afgoi was found to be more SME tolerant as compared with cv. EV-5098 because it exhibited lower RMP and had low H2O2 and MDA contents. The better growth of maize plants irrigated with SME (25%) suggested that diluted SME could be used for irrigation in nutrients deprived environments.
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