STUDIES ON CHANGES OF SOME MACRO-AND MICRONUTRIENTS OF THE LEAF DISCS OF CAJANUS CAJAN AND AMARANTHUS PANICULATUS UNDER AQUEOUS SULPHUR DIOXIDE
B. Sujatha, B. Priyadarshini, M.V.V.P. Kumar, Ch. Umamahesh and J. Saraswathi
Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the effect of elevated aqueous SO2 (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 and 250 ppm) on mineral element content of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. cv. PDM1), a C3 plant and amaranth (Amaranthus paniculatus L. a local cultivar), a C4 plant leaf discs under light and dark conditions. The changes in macronutrients including nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sulphur and sodium and micronutrients such as iron, manganese, copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum and cobalt and heavy metals, lead and cadmium were analysed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer. The results showed that the aqueous SO2 decreased the mineral element content of the leaf discs in both the plant species were more in dark than in light conditions. However, sulphur content increased more in light than in dark exposed leaf discs with increasing concentration and duration of SO2 exposure in both the pigeonpea and amaranth.
Keywords: Amaranthus paniculatus, aqueous SO2, Cajanus cajan, light and dark, mineral elements