Bromide Tolerance in Plants: A Case Study on Halophytes of Indian Coast

Abstract

Many industrial effluents contain occasionally various toxic elements. Many a time, bromide forms a constituent of the effluents esp. originating from coastal regions. Plant materials have been effectively employed as tools to remediate this situation. Some halophytes are the best choice for reducing the toxic levels from affected salanized soils. This paper deals with the bromide uptake and its accumulation effect on the growth of Salicornia brachiata, Suaeda nudiflora, and Salvadora persica, the common halophyts of Indian coast. The species were grown with NaBr soln. along with other essential nutrients. The growth in S. brachiata, S. nudiflora, and S. persica was more or less same except for some apparent morphol. differences in NaBr grown plants as compared to that in NaCl-fed plants. The bromide present in various parts of these plants was detd. by simple and eco-friendly techniques for the first time. A reliable spectrophotometric method was developed and employed to est. the bromide compn. in all plant exts. The bromide levels were about 0.086-0.2 g in the root, 0.175-0.443 g in stem and 0.287-0.432 g in leaves per g of dry plant material and at higher levels it affected the photosynthetic activity. Cultivation of these plants for reclamation of bromide affected soils has been advocated as an alternative. [on SciFinder(R)]