1Department of Biochemistry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125001, India
2Department of Biochemistry, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145, India
*Email: puneshsangwan@gmail.com
Online published on 15 March, 2014.
Hexavalent chromium is highly reactive and shown to be toxic for plants at higher concentrations. In present study, a pot experiment was conducted with important forage crop ‘clusterbean’ to determine the toxic effect of hexavalent chromium on its nutritive value on advancement of plant growth. The plants were grown in soil containing varying chromium concentration ranging from 0.0–4.0 mg Cr (VI) kg−1 soil. Nutritive parameters viz structural carbohydrates, protein content and in vitro dry matter digestibility were studied in different plant parts and growth stages. Toxic effects of hexavalent chromium were reflected by no survival of plants at 4.0 mg Cr (VI) kg−1 soil, upto 28% reduction in protein content and high variation in structural carbohydrates contents. Irrespective of these changes, the in vitro dry matter digestibility largely remains unaffected with very less change (0–6%). The study concludes that hexavalent chromium adversely affected nutritive value of clusterbean at higher concentrations.
Toxic effect of hexavalent chromium were maximum at concentration of 4.0 mg Cr (VI) kg−1 soil
Content of ADF, NDF, lignin and silica increased with increased chromium concentration
Least variation was reported for in vitro dry matter digestibility
Chromium toxicity, Nutritive value, Clusterbean, Forage
