Phytotoxicity of Tetracycline and Amoxicillin on Vigna radiata and its Remediation Potential in Hydroponic System

The current study aimed to evaluate the phytotoxicity of tetracycline and amoxicillin on Vigna radiata and its remediation potential in hydroponic system. Germinated seeds of Vigna radiata were planted with varying concentrations of tetracycline and amoxicillin (150 – 500 mg L^-1) in triplicates (n=3) for three weeks. Toxicity biomarkers, i.e. changes in plant biomass, photosynthetic pigment, phenol, flavonoid content and antioxidative enzymes were estimated after completion of 3 weeks. The results illustrated that high tetracycline concentration (500 mg L^-1) in hoagland media resulted decrease in total chlorophyll content (3.045-2.252 mg total chlorophyll /g tissue) while in case of amoxicillin, chlorophyll content was increased (5.18 - 7.309 mg total chlorophyll/g tissue). Carotenoid, Total flavonoid and phenolic content, were also significantly (p < 0.05) reduced due to toxicity of these antibiotics. Antioxidant enzyme like catalase showed 7.22 % degradation in their activity with highest concentration (500 mg kg^-1) of tetracycline and 27.3 % degradation was found in case of amoxicillin. Glutathione peroxidase activity was also decreased in both of the cases. Subsequently, the Vigna radiata showed 63% remediation potential with tetracycline and 93 % in case of amoxicillin. Hence, overall results indicate that, the phytoremediation rate shown by Vigna radiata is very promising and these antibiotics also showed its toxicological impact on plants.