Abstract

The growth and yield of several crops have been shown to be drastically decrease by Fluoride. Therefore, in the present study we have tried to investigate the adverse effects of fluoride on growth, photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll stability index in wheat (Triticum aestivum) seedlings. Growth pattern of wheat seedlings was monitored at regular intervals for 15 days under different concentrations by estimating the shoot and root length, number of root, fresh and dry weight. Seedlings of wheat were grown sterilized in petri dishes during on growth of seedlings in different concentrations of fluoride (20,40,80,120 and 160mg/L) were selected for detailed study. The germination %, shoot and root length, number of root, fresh and dry weight of the wheat seedlings was found maximum in treatment T0- control and minimum was recorded in treatment T5- 160 mg/L. The results showed that the shoot and root length, number of root, fresh and dry weight were reduced by 47.89,58.66, 18.60, 47.24 and 63.03 % at T5- 160mg/L respective value of control. The photosynthetic pigment content was investigated in the presence of different concentrations of fluoride. The photosynthetic pigment content was severely affected with increasing concentrations of fluoride. Also, fresh and dry weight were decrease in order of increase in NaF concentration fromT0-control to T5-160mg/L. The photosynthetic pigments chl a, chl b, total chl of the wheat seedlings was in treatment T0-control and was recorded in treatment T5- 160 mg/L. It was also recorded chl a, chl b, total chl were in order of increase in NaF concentration from T0- control toT5- 160mg/L. The chlorophyll stability index of the wheat seedlings was found maximum in treatment T0-control and minimum was recorded in treatment T5-160 mg/L. It was also recorded chlorophyll stability index was decrease in order of increase in NaF concentration from T0-control to T5-160mg/L.