EFFECT OF CHROMIUM IONS ON THE BIOCHEMICALPARAMETERS OF COTTON PLANT, GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM (L.)D. Ezhilvannan and P.S. SharavananAbstract The Cotton plant, Gossypium hirsutum (L.) treated different concentrations of chromium [Cr] ions (10, 25,50, 75, 100 and 250 mgkg-1) through soil for 60 days. At the end of the experiment, the biochemical parametersof the control and treated Cotton plant G. hirsutum (L.) such as chlorophyll a & b, total chlorophyll, totalsugars, starch, aminoacids, protein and proline were analyzed by standard procedures. Results werestatistically analysed and the mean values between the groups were evaluated by Duncan post hoc withhomogenous subset. In all the treated groups, the biochemical parameters were significantly reduced thancontrol except 10mgKg-1 which is representing the below critical concentration of the micronutrients, i.e.,heavy metals. Our study evidenced that Cr levels in soil less than 10 mg Kg-1 showed no impact on thechlorophyll, total sugars and amino acids in the cotton plants Gossypium hirsutum (L.) whereas higherconcentrations of the Cr levels showed severe impact on the photosynthetic pigments (chief and totalpigments) which resulted in the reduced food production (total sugars and starch) and sugar interconversion,finally the growth and metabolism of the cotton plant were severely altered. |