Effect of Cadmium Stress on the Growth, Physiology, Stress Markers,Antioxidants and Stomatal Behaviour of Two Genotypes of Chickpea(Cicer arietinumL.) br

The current work was performed to know the impact of cadmium (Cd) toxicity on two different genotypes ofchickpea (Cicer arietinumL.) namely Pusa-BG1053 and Pusa-BG372. Cadmium was applied in the form of cad-mium chloride (CdCl2), in varying levels, 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg Cd kg-1soil. Plant growth as well as physio-logical attributes were decreased with increasing concentration of Cd. Both genotypes showed the maximum andsignificant reduction at the maximum dose of Cd (100 mg Cd kg-1soil). Results of this study proved that thegenotype Pusa-BG1053 was more tolerant and showed a lower decline in growth, photosynthetic and biochemicalattributes than Pusa-BG372. This later genotype showed the maximum reduction and was sensitive to Cd stress.A better activity of antioxidants protected Pusa-BG1053 from Cd toxicity; on the other hand, the activity of anti-oxidants was much lower in Pusa-BG372. Scanning electron microscopic studies showed differences in both gen-otypes. In Pusa-BG1053, stomatal quantity was higher and stomata were slightly close to the characteristic guardcells. In Pusa-BG372 stomata were lower, slightly open and with highly affected guard cells. Root cell mortalitydue to the harsh effects of Cd appeared to be more evident in Pusa-BG372 than Pusa-BG1053, which was visible undera confocal microscope. As a result of this study, Pusa-BG1053 was a more tolerant genotype, and exhibited a minimumreduction in terms of all studied parameters than Pusa-BG372, which was a sensitive genotype to Cd toxicity