Role of transitory starch on growth, development and metal accumulation of Triticum aestivum cultivars grown under textile effluent fertilization.

Accumulation of transitory starch in leaves is an environment-dependent multifaceted process affected through stress caused by nutrient deficiency or excess of heavy metals in growing medium. On the other hand, textile effluent is one of the major pollution causing industrial waste due to the presence of heavy metal and organic contaminants. Besides the presence of higher pollution load, this effluent also contains some minerals essential for plant growth and metabolism and can serve as source of nutrients to plants. In presented experiment, a mesocosm study was conducted to evaluate the phenotypic, biochemical performance and trace element status of Triticum aestivum (cv. LOK-101 and GW-496) cultivars in response to transitory starch activity grown under textile effluent fertilization. Improved activity of transitory starch under textile effluent fertilization deals with plant growth by providing carbon in the form of soluble sugar. Study also finds a strong correlation of photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrates and plant biomass to transitory starch. As expected, the elemental concentration (Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Co, Pb, Cd, and As) in plants increased with increasing dose of textile effluent. The study concluded that the transitory starch is one of the key components in plant leaves that regulate plant growth under stress condition. Furthermore, the study also concluded that the lower dose of textile effluent significantly favours growth and nutrient status of plants without any negative impact. Therefore, the application of lower concentration of textile effluent as basal dose in agriculture may serve as source of nutrient/micronutrient to plants and also can be a sustainable way for effluent management.