Effects of lead (PbCl₂) stress on germination of lentil (<i>Lens culinaris</i> Medic.) lines

Abstract

The presence of heavy metals in solid and liquid wastes is an important issue that is related to the pollution of the environment. They are one of the most important environmental pollutants and reaching dangerous amount requires more research. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of lead (PbCl₂) stress on germination of different lentil lines. Seeds of four different lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) lines (BM601-46, BM706-8, BM449-13 and BM152-33) were placed on temperature adjustable germination cabinet at 15°C with 10 different lead solutions (Control, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 mM) and germination percentage, mean germination time, vigour index, plumule length and radicle length were investigated. According to result gotten from the study, considerably decrease was observed in all parameters except mean germination time, depending on increasing lead concentration in all lines which had been used. On the other hand, effect of the concentrations of PbCl₂ on germination was observed to be statistically important in all parameters. The results also revealed that
significant variation is found among lines. BM449-13 and BM706-8 lines showed better performance for all parameters.

Keywords: Lentil (Lens culinaris L.), germination, vigour index, plumule length, radicle length