Studies in growth and biochemical responses in Capsicum annuum under SO2 exposure
Mukesh K Bhardwaj, Rahul Bhardwaj and Amita Bhardwaj*
Department of Botany, D.S College, Aligarh (India) *Aligarh College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh (India) E-mail: mkb.dsbot@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
During present work the growth and biochemical responses in Capsicum annuum cv. Pusa Sadabahar to various concentrations of SO2 i.e. 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 ppm were studied. The observations revealed that SO2 adversely affects the growth as well as the biochemical contents in the experimental plants exposed to SO2. The plants exposed to various concentrations of SO2 showed a range of decrease in growth parameters. The plants, exposed to lower concentrations showed slight decrease in the concerned growth parameters while there was a significant reduction in growth attributes when the plants were exposed to higher doses i.e. 0.7 ppm of SO2. Similarly the biochemical contents i.e. chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and ascorbic acids were found to be decreased when plants were exposed to SO2 pollution. Significant reduction in chlorophyll a, b and ascorbic acid was noted at higher concentration (0.7 ppm) of SO2.