Impact of heavy Metals on Root and Shoot Length of Indian Mustard: An Initial Approach for Phytoremediation

Anthropogenic activities of the modern time have resulted in environmental pollution. Soil pollution is one of them which is the resultant of toxicity of heavy metal contamination. Phytoremediation is the emerging technology for managing these heavy metals. Indian mustard is considered to be the most effective plant for this purpose. In the present study, the impact of heavy metals on the growth of Indian mustard was assessed. Seeds of Indian mustard were grown in the presence of different concentration of heavy metals which resulted in the increase in the root and shoot length at lower concentration initially and decrease in the root and shoot length with the subsequent higher concentrations. The difference in root and shoot length from initial to final concentration of heavy metal ranged from 6.7 cm to 2.1 cm for roots and 2.4 cm to 0.05 cm for shoots.