Effect of heavy metals (Pb & Cr) on growth and chlorophyll content of Datura metel L.

Datura (Datura metel) is said to be one of the most misunderstood of all plants probably like all evil plants. It has great potential for variety of medicinal uses. Heavy metals are spread pollutants of great environmental concern as they are not degradable and are perisistent. It is well perceived that there is a permissible limited of each metal above which they are generally toxic. In the view of increased environmental awareness, heavy metal is of utmost importance. Keeping these facts in view a pot culture experiment was conducted to study the effect of Pb and Cr on Datura metel”. The experiment was carried out under completely randomised design with 16 treatments and 3 replications. Pb and Cr were applied through PbCl₂ and K₂Cr₂ O₄ respectively. The plant growth was studied in the form of plant height, no of leaves, no of branches fortnightly. Heavy metals like Pb and Cr significantly affected the growth such as plant height, leaves and branches. The Chlorophyll content decreased with increasing concentration of heavy metals. Adverse effect Pb+Cr was more pronounced in comparison of their individual application.