Abstract :
Cadmium is considered to be one of the most toxic metals even at lower concentration. The significance of toxic
concentration of cadmium provided individually was investigated in order to assess the effect of metal interaction in
Lemna polyrhiza L. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Cadmium (Cd) ion and possible
variations in its tissue after 6 days exposure to 0.5 ppm Cd solution. Lemna polyrhiza L. was cultured in hoagland medium
supplemented with 0.5 ppm Cd concentration and harvested after 6 day. To scrutinize anatomical abnormalities SEMEDX analysis were carried out for cadmium treated plants (0.5 ppm) for both the test and control plants. Surface
morphology of control plant showed non shiny, porous, non crystalline surface with fixed shape and was found to
maintain evenness throughout the surface where as SEM images of cadmium treated samples revealed shiny, crystalline
and white surface which is evidence that cadmium have got absorbed on the surface. Furthermore, more porous nature of
control samples was the indications of the plant to be a good bioindicator of cadmium contaminated environment. The
results obtained inveterate that Lemna polyrhiza L. is heavy metal accumulator and thus SEM-EDX applications in
natural habitat open up broad prospects for future studies of metal ecotoxicity.
Keyword :
Cadmium, SEM-EDX Analysis, Ecotoxicity, Bioindicator, Lemna polyrhiza L