ABSTRACT:
The Trigonella foenum-graecum, family Fabaceae, is one of the oldest medicinal plants with exceptional medicinal and nutritional properties. Additionally, it may also serve as an important off-season fodder and animal food supplement. It may grow well under variety of conditions including drought, salinity, etc. Considering its adaptability towards a range of conditions, in this study, responses of Trigonella foenum-graecum seedlings were evaluated towards acid rain (AR). Acid Rain (AR) is described as one of the severe environmental issues emerged due to air pollution coupled with industrialization and more recently, climate change. It is caused primarily by dissolution of SO, NO, and HCI. These emissions into the atmosphere are largely due to combustion of flammable waste and fossil fuels within thermal power plants, smelters, automobiles etc. These compounds later combine with ozone to form strong acids like H,SO, and HNO, Rain water that contains a concentration of H jons greater than 2.5 ueg" and pH lower than 5.6 is considered as AR. It ha been documented that AR exerts deleterious impacts in plants that includes necrosis, thin crown, premature abscission, dieback, foliar injury, etc. It was also revealed to lead over accumulation of hyper active oxygen species which are prone to attack over cellular macromolecules. Owing to the susceptibility of early seedlings to abiotic stresses, 15 days old Trigonella foenum-graecum seedlings were treated with simulated acid rain (SAR, developed by adjusting the pH of the distilled water to pH 2.5 and 3.0, using 70:30 (v/v) H,SO, HNO,. following standard protocol), in alternate days, and for a total of 30 days. Accumulated data revealed adverse impacts of both the treatments on overall growth responses (length of the root and shoot, number of leaves, leaf area, and biomass of root, shoot and leaves) of Trigonella foenum-graecum. Moreover, hyper active oxygen species promoted rise in both lipid peroxidation reaction and electrolyte leakage, and remarkable fall in contents of both chlorophylls (a, b and total) and soluble protein were also documented. Analysis of data approves that both the treatments were significantly inhibitory to Trigonella foenum-graecum but their impacts were pH dependent; pH 2.5 was more damaging than the 3.0. As per our knowledge this is the first report concerning to SAR and its deleterious impacts on any of the medicinally reputed plants. However, whether SAR treatment induces any alteration in the medicinal properties of Trigonella foenum-graecum has to be explored experimentally.
Cite this article:
Xalxo and Keshavkant (2016). Simulated Acid Rain-Induced Oxidative Modifications in Medicinally Reputed Trigonella foenum-graecum Seedlings. Journal of Ravishankar University (Part-B: Science), 29(1), pp.135-136.