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15. Effect of temperature-tolerant rhizobial isolates as PGPR on nodulation, growth and yield of
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Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan L Milsp.]
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morphologically contrasting genotypes of mungbean under varied water conditions
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against soil moisture stress
Anuj Kumar Singh, J.P. Srivastava, R.M. Singh, M.N. Singh and Manoj Kumar
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incorporated rice based snacks
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in Ballia District of Uttar Pradesh
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21. Performance of chickpea in varied conditions of Uttar Pradesh
120 Lakhan Singh and A.K. Singh
22. Role of pulses in the food and nutritional security in India
124 Shalendra, K. C. Gummagolmath, Purushottam Sharma
and S. M. Patil
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
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130 Anand Singh and Dhirendra Kumar Singh
24. Assessment of heritable components in chickpea Cicer arietinum L.
134 Sudhanshu Jain, S. C. Srivastava, Y. M. Indapurkar and H.S. Yadava
25. Genetic variability and character association for yield and its components in black gram
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Vigna mungo L. Hepper
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26. Studies on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in chickpea Cicer arietinum L
139 Shweta, A.K. Yadav
and R.K. Yadav
27. Effect of zinc, molybdenum and Rhizobium on yield and nutrient uptake in summer urdbean Vigna mungo L.
141 Khalil Khan and Ved Prakash
28. Effect of seed dressers against root rot of cowpea
145 D. B. Patel, S. M. Chaudhari, R.G. Parmar and Y. Ravindrababu
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cerealsmillets using Rhizophus Oryzae PGJ-1
G. Gayathry, K. Jothilakshmi, G. Sindumathi and S. Parvathi
Journal of Food Legumes 263 4: 1-18, 2013
Heavy metal toxicity to food legumes: effects, antioxidative defense and tolerance mechanisms
NAVNEET KAUR and HARSH NAYYAR Department of Botany, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India; E-mail:nayarbotpu.ac.in
ABSTRACT
Heavy metal stress has emerged as one of the most detrimental for the major food crops due to persistent soil pollution. These
metals are known to replace essential metals in pigments or enzymes disrupting their function and have thus proved to be
toxic. Their toxicity results in chlorosis, weak plant growth, yield depression accompanied by reduced nutrient uptake,
disorders in plant metabolism and, in leguminous plants, a red uced ability to fix molecula r nitrog en. Most of the
leguminous crops are affected by metal stress present in the soil mainly due to contaminated agrochemicals and sewage
sludge. They are known to cause deleterious effect on the cell division of the pla nts and cause ma ny chromosomal
abnormalities which depend upon the concentration and the intensity of the exposure of the same. Uptake and accumulation
of metals at higher concentrations cause ultra-structural and an atomical cha nges in the plan t cells. Various pla nt
physiological a ctivities like seed germination, nutrition distribution, enzymatic activity, nitrogen fixation,
photosynthesis and pollen function are adversely affected. Uptake into the seeds adversely affects the nutritional quality
of seeds. However, the plants possess various defense and tolerance mechanisms to cope up with stresses. In this review,
we describe various effects, defense and tolerance mechanisms due to heavy metals, especially for legumes.
Key words:
Heavy metals, Legumes, Tolerance mechanism, Toxicity
1. Introduction
