Abstract

Effect of heavy metals on the growth of gemmae of Marchantia paleacea Bertol

Author(s): Vinay Sahu, Virendra Nath, Ashish Kumar Asthana, Mohd. Yunus

The present study has been done to study the effect of heavy metals (Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb and Ni) on the growth of the gemmae of M. paleacea. Four different concentrations (10 ppm, 25 ppm, 50 ppm and 100 ppm) of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn and Ni) and one control were used to carry out experiments. It was found that Cu, Ni, Zn and Pb are potentially toxic to gemmalings ofM. paleacea, at certain level, while Cu showed considerably greater effects at low levels. Interestingly, in the case of Mn, it has been found that gemmalings of M. paleacea tolerate relatively high Mn levels and show better growth as compared to Control.