| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2013 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 2 | Page : 272-275 |
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Effect of heavy metals on germination of seeds
Sunil Kumar Sethy, Shyamasree Ghosh
School of Biological Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, India
Correspondence Address:
Shyamasree Ghosh
National Institute of Science Education and Research, Institute of Physics Campus, Sachivalaya Marg PO, Sainik School, Bhubaneswar - 751 005
India
 Source of Support: National Institute of Science, Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, DAE, Govt. of India, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0976-9668.116964
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With the expansion of the world population, the environmental pollution and toxicity by chemicals raises concern. Rapid industrialization and urbanization processes has led to the incorporation of pollutants such as pesticides, petroleum products, acids and heavy metals in the natural resources like soil, water and air thus degrading not only the quality of the environment, but also affecting both plants and animals. Heavy metals including lead, nickel, cadmium, copper, cobalt, chromium and mercury are important environmental pollutants that cause toxic effects to plants; thus, lessening productivity and posing dangerous threats to the agro-ecosystems. They act as stress to plants and affect the plant physiology. In this review, we have summarized the effects of heavy metals on seeds of different plants affecting the germination process. Although reports exist on mechanisms by which the heavy metals act as stress and how plants have learnt to overcome, the future scope of this review remains in excavating the signaling mechanisms in germinating seeds in response to heavy metal stress. |
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