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International Multidisciplinary Research Journal 2011, 1/1:25-30

ISSN: 2231-6302
Available Online: http://irjs.info/
IRMJ-Ecology

Effect of cement dust pollution on germination and growth of groundnut (Arachis

hypogaea L.)
D. Raajasubramanian1, P. Sundaramoorthy1,2*, L. Baskaran1, K. Sankar Ganesh1, AL.A. Chidambaram1 and
M. Jeganathan1
1
Department of Botany, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608 002,Tamilnadu – India
2
P.G. Research Department of Environmental Science, Government Arts College, Ariyalur, Tamilnadu – India

Abstract: Air pollution has been described as an additional stress on plants since they often respond to
atmospheric contamination in the same way as they respond to drought and other environment stress. The role of
air pollutants causing injury to plants either by direct toxic effect or modifying the host physiology rendering it
more susceptible to infection. In severe case of pollution, the injury symptoms were expressed as foliar necrosis
or completely disappearance of the plant. In that way the present research work carried out cement dust pollution
on germination growth and biochemical of groudnut. The cement dust artificially sprayed on the plant surface
with different levels. All the morphological and biochemical were analyzed. Morphological parameters Root
length, Shoot Length, and dry weight were inhibited in high dose of cement deposition when compare control
plant. The highest amount of all biochemical content which present in control set and lowest one recorded in
25g/pot sprayed with cement dust.

INTRODUCTION
Air pollution has become a major threat to the survival of metals. Increased concentrations of the above pollutants cause
plants in the industrial areas (Gupta & Mishra, 1994). Rapid progressive reduction in the photosynthetic ability of leaves,
industrialization and addition of the toxic substances to the closure of leaf stomata and, mainly, a reduction in growth and
environment are responsible for altering the ecosystem (Mudd productivity of plants (Larcher 1995). Environmental
& Kozlowski, 1975; Niragau & Davidson, 1986; Clayton & contamination due to dust particle coming from Cement
Clayton, 1982). Air pollution has been described as an Industries, Coal Mining, Quarrying, Stone Crushing, Thermal
additional stress on plants since they often respond to Power Plant etc., has drawn much attention to the
atmospheric contamination in the same way as they respond environmental scientists today as they create serious pollution
to drought and other environment stress. The role of air problems and pose threat to the ecosystem. The cement
pollutants causing injury to plants either by direct toxic effect industry also plays a vital role in the imbalances of the
or modifying the host physiology rendering it more environment and produces air pollution hazards (Stern, 1976).
susceptible to infection. In severe case of pollution, the injury These dust particulates are causing large scale deforestation
symptoms were expressed as foliar necrosis or completely destruction of Biota (Panda, 1996) and other natural resources.
disappearance of the plant. Several workers have also Among these deposition of cement kiln dust in large quantities
previously studied the impact of air pollution on plants with around cement factories causes changes in soil physical
reference to foliar anatomical and biochemical changes by chemical properties (Asubiojo, 1991; Saralabai, 1993). The
experimenting on various sensitive plants (Samal and Santra, effect of such deposition affects the growth and biochemical
2002). characteristics of field crops has also been widely studied
The main atmospheric pollutants are: gaseous - mainly SO2 (Prasad and Inamadar, 1990; Prasad et al., 1991). According
NOx, O3, heavy metals and dust, which often includes heavy to Farmer (1993) cement industrial regions are confronted
with the problems of alkalization due to high deposition of
alkaline cement dust and their ash in the pollution complex. In
Received: April 28, 2011; Revised May 17, 2011; Accepted May 17, addition, the growth of quarrying and open cast mining
2011.
suggest the dust deposition on vegetation may be increasing.
*Corresponding Author, Tel: +91-9487782195; +91-9976961593 Recent work showed that cement dust decreased the
Email: ppsmoorthy@yahoo.com, draajasubramanian@yahoo.com productivity and concentration of chlorophyll in a number of
annual non-leguminous crops (Liu et al. 1997, Pandey
Copyright © 2011 Authors. This is an online open access article andKumar 1996, Saralabai and Vivekanandan 1997, Satao et
published by ScholarJournals of Society for Scientific Research, and is
distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
al. 1993). Also, in recent years, many effects of cement dust
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, have been studied on conifers growing in central European
provided the original work is properly cited. forests (Lepedus et al. 2003, Mandre and Ots 1999, Mandre
26 D. Raajasubramani et al.

and Tuulmets 1997). However, not enough information of metabolisms essential for germination and growth of
available in relation to the germination and biochemical seedlings (Anujsaxena, 2003). The critical phase of
behavior of crops under cement dust polluted soil. The present germination in the life cycle of the crop plants is subjected to
research paper reveals the effect of cement dust to the soil on many environmental stresses. Any disturbance in the
the germination and biochemical behavior of groundnut environment in which the seed germination affect the
(Arachis hypogaea L.). germination and ultimately the growth and yield of the crop
(Dixit et al., 1986). The germination percentage of groundnut
MATERIALS AND METHOD
seeds was gradually decreased with the increase in the cement
Cement dust collected from nearby TANCEM, Ariyalur, dust weight. Moreover 50% reduction of germination
Tamil Nadu, were mixed with garden soil from Dept. of percentage was observed at 25 g/kg soil amended
Botany, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu. Groundnut concentrations. The better result of germination was observed
(Arachis hypogaea L.) Var. Vri.3 was procured form Tamil at control plants. Prasad and Inamdar (1991) reported the
Nadu Agriculture University, Regional Research Station gradual decrease of germination was observed when the
Virudhachalam, Tamil Nadu. It is used as a test crop for amount of cement increased. The decrease in germination of
germination study. The seeds were surface sterilized with seeds with increasing concentrations may be due to toxic
0.1% Hgcl for 10 minutes and then soaked for overnight effects of metals present in the cement dust which interfere
before sowing. Cement dust mixed with soil were kept in with the normal synthesis of metabolic products, thus directly
germination cups in the ratio of Control, 5g/Kg, 10g/Kg, affecting the cell division and cell elongation (Singh and
15g/Kg, 20g/Kg, 25g/Kg, without cement dust treated as Srivastava, 2002). Saralabai and Vivekanandan (1992)
control. Germination test were carried out triplicate samples reported that the application of cement dust to the soil did not
were maintained (each containing 20 seeds), under natural affect the seed germination of some legumes. The positive
photoperiod of day and night temperature 27-31• C and 23- effects observed may be attributed to the presence of plant
26•C respectively. The seedlings raised in dust free soil were growth promoting elements (N, P, Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, S, Cu, Pb
treated as control. In the third day of germination test, the and Zn) in the cement dust. But, the germination of some
seeds were germinated through the breakage of seed coat were leguminous seeds were totally affected in higher cement
visible. In the seventh day of seedling growth parameters such concentration. Germination of seeds was not found to be
as Germination percentage, Seedling length (Cm/Seedling), affected. Addition of the cement dust upto 200 g/kg soil did
Fresh weight (g/seedling), Dry weight (g/seedling), Vigour not affect germination. But any further increase resulted in
index, Tolerance Index and percentage of Phytotoxicity, were serious inhibition of germination of seeds. Even at 200 g
measured and recorded, in addition to that above said dust/kg soil about 100% germination was observed. The time
parameters, bio-chemical parameters like chlorophyll (Arnon, taken for plumule and radicle emergence was seriously
1949), Protein (Lowry, 1951), Amino acid (Moore and Stein, affected at increasing concentrations of the cement dust above
1948), Total sugar (Nelson, 1944) were estimated and 200 g/kg soil (Saralabai and Vivekanandan, 1995).
recorded The germination percentage growth and their weight were
found higher in control when compared to treated seeds.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION They are not affected at lower concentrations of dust applied
To find out the effect of cement dust on germination, we upto 5%. The time taken for plumule and radicle emergence
made different concentration (Control, 5g/Kg, 10g/Kg, was seriously affected at increasing concentrations of the dust
15g/Kg, 20g/Kg, 25g/Kg) of cement dust with soil were (Sundaramoorthy et al., 1997a,b). There was a similar trend of
taken. Seed germination percentage, Seedling length increasing vigour index with increasing dust concentration
(Cm/Seedling), Fresh weight (g/seedling), Dry weight upto 5% and then gradually declined beyond that level. The
(g/seedling), Vigour index, Tolerance Index and percentage of length of radicle and plumule is dose dependent which got
Phytotoxicity, were measured and recorded, in addition to that decreased with increasing concentrations of the cement dust
above said parameters , bio-chemical parameters like pollution. Reduction in seedling growth with increasing
chlorophyll, Protein, Amino acid, Total sugar were concentrations of cement dust solution has also been observed
estimated and recorded on the seventh day after sowing. The by Prasad and Inamdar (1991), Lerman (1972) and Singh (2000).
effect of cement dust pollution on germination studies of Fig 8- 13 represents the impact of cement dust pollution
groundnut are represented in Fig 1 – 7. The on biochemical changes of groundnut. The higher content of
higher germination percentage (100%), seedling length (9.967 chlorophyll (0.281), protein (0.751), amino acid (2.758), total
cm/seedling), fresh weight (1.90 g /seedling), dry weight sugar (2.437) and the lower content chlorophyll (0.101),
(0.666 g/seedling), vigour index (487) was observed in control protein (0.305), amino acid (0.603) and total sugar (1.078)
plants. The lower germination percentage (30), seedling was observed in control and 25g cement dust treatment. They
length (5.766 cm/seedling), fresh weight (0.75 g/seedling), are expressed in mg g-1 fr. wt. basis. Studies of pollution on
dry weight (0.250 g/seedling) and vigour index (172.98) was biochemical changes the plant metabolism i.e., reduction in
observed in 25 g/kg cement dust sprayed seedlings. Seed chlorophyll and clogged stomata (Ahmed and Gardir, 1975)
germination and growth are vital for continuation of plant life. reveals that these parameters are important in regulating the
Seeds and seedlings are extremely vulnerable to environment productivity and also the number of flowers and seeds
stress due to presence of polluting agents in the environment produced. In this experiment, the biochemical studies such as
especially during seed hydration period which is very much chlorophyll, carotenoid, protein, amino acid and total sugars
important for initiating and triggering the investigate sequence were analyzed. All the biochemicals are gradually decreased
Internat. Multidiscipl. Res. J. 2011, 1/1:25-30 27

with the increase in cement dust concentrations. The higher decreased CO2 fixation because of chlorophyll deterioration
chlorophyll, carotenoid, protein, amino acid and sugars were (Tripathi and Gautam, 2007).
observed in control plants and the lower values of these
parameters were observed in higher concentrations of cement
dust sprayed plants. Moreover 50% reduction of biochemical
contents was observed at 25 g soil mixing cement dust
concentrations when compared with control. Similarly, these
parameters were increased with the increase in the age of the
plant. The shoot contains higher protein, amino acid and
sugars than the root in all the concentrations. The chlorophyll
‘a’, chlorophyll ‘b’, total sugars, protein, starch, lipids and
amino acids are gradually decreased in dust polluted plants
than in control plants (Uma and Ramana Rao, 1996). The
amounts of chlorophyll ‘a’, chlorophyll ‘b’, total chlorophyll
and carotenoid contents of cement dust treated samples were
always lower than that of control plants. A maximum
reduction of 1.80% of total chlorophyll was recorded in 10%
treatment at the age of 45 days. Decrease in chlorophyll
content might be due to chloroplast damage by incorporation
of cement kiln dust into leaf tissues (Singh and Srivastava,
2002). The similar results were observed in maize crop Fig.1. Effect of cement dust pollution on germination of groundnut
(Pandey et al., 1999), water (Pandey and Simba, 1990b) and
gram leaves (Pandey and Simba, 1989). Chlorophyll ‘a’,
chlorophyll ‘b’ and total chlorophyll showed a similar trend of
reduction. They are sample of evidence concerning the
detrimental effects of gaseous pollutants, which are acidic in
nature on chlorophyll molecules (Treshow, 1984). The gaseous
pollutants such as SO2 at higher concentrations, degrades
chlorophyll to a photosynthetically inactive phaeophytin and
Mg++. A similar conversion of chlorophyll to phaeophytin can
occur with acids where Mg++ in the chlorophyll molecule is
replaced by two atoms of hydrogen, thereby changing the light
spectrum characteristics of chlorophylls (Rao and Le Blanc,
1966). A considerable loss in total chlorophyll in the leaves of Fig.2. Effect of cement dust pollution on seedling length of groundnut
plants exposed in severe air pollution supports the argument
that the chloroplast is the primary site of attack by air
pollutants which make their entrance into the tissues through
the stomata and cause partial denaturation of the chloroplast
and decreases pigment content in the cells of polluted leaves.
In the present study, the protein content were found to be
decreased in both germination studies and pot culture
experiments. Reduction in protein content might be due to the
enhanced rate of protein denaturation (Tripathi and Gautham,
2007; Prasad and Inamdar, 1990a). The enhanced protein
denaturation and breakdown of existing protein to amino acid
is the main cause of reduction in protein content
Fig.3. Effect of cement dust pollution on fresh weight of groundnut
(Constantinidou and Kozlowski, 1979). The reduction in
protein content might be due the results of decreased
photosynthesis on the other hand, decrease in protein content
could be attributed either to break down of existing protein or
due to reduced de novo synthesis (Singh and Jothi, 1999).
Soluble sugar is an important constituent and source of energy
for all living organisms. Plants manufacture this organic
substance during photosynthesis and breakdown during
respiration. The concentration of soluble sugar is indicative of
the physiological activity of a plant and it determines the
sensitivity of plants to air pollution. The sugar content was
found to be reduced with the increase in the of amount cement
dust applied. Reduction in soluble sugar content in polluted
stations can be attributed to increased respiration and Fig.4. Effect of cement dust pollution on dry weight of groundnut
28 D. Raajasubramani et al.

Fig.5. Effect of cement dust pollution on vigor index of groundnut Fig.9. Effect of cement dust pollution on protein content of groundnut

Fig.6. Effect of cement dust pollution on tolerance index of groundnut Fig.10. Effect of cement dust pollution on amino acid content of groundnut

Fig.11. Effect of cement dust pollution on reducing sugar of groundnut

Fig.7. Effect of cement dust pollution on percentage phytotoxicity of
groundnut

Fig.12. Effect of cement dust pollution on nonreducing sugar of groundnut

Fig.8. Effect of cement dust pollution on total chlorophyll content of

groundnut
Internat. Multidiscipl. Res. J. 2011, 1/1:25-30 29

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