Growth, Metal Accumulation Potential and Antioxidant Enzyme Responses of Ricinus communis L. Genotypes Exposed to Cement Industry Effluent

The current study was carried out to delineate the effect of cement industry effluent on the two screened varieties of R. communis(Castor) viz. MSC-55 and Western-6. A number of analyses such as growth parameters, photosynthetic pigment, metal accumulationand antioxidant enzyme were performed on both the varieties. With respect to T0 (100% tap water), an increase of 86.84, 90.97 and80.15% was noticed in the fresh weight (FW) of roots of MSC-55 variety at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, respectively, when irrigated with T2 (50%effluent+50% tap water). The results obtained significantly differed between T0 and T2 and T0 and T4 (at p ≤ 0.05). MSC-55 variety wasobserved to contain an increased amount of total chlorophyll and carotenoids up to T2 concentration which declined at higher effluentconcentration i.e., T4 (100% effluent). Increased concentration of Cement Industry Effluent (CIE) enhanced the generation of someantioxidant compounds like Guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in both the varieties up to certain treatmentconcentrations viz. MSC-55 and Western-6. As the effluent concentration increased in both the varieties, the amount of malondialdehyde(MDA) in the leaves and roots also rose. With increasing effluent concentrations, Catalase (CAT) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD)also increased. MSC-55 variety of R. communis was observed to have a strong antioxidant defence system against CIE and could berecommended for cultivation during metal-contaminated industrial effluent condition.