Published Paper Details:

Field visit to Ghat areas indicated that the leaves of roadside plants were heavily coated with lead and air pollutants coming out from automobile exhausts. During rainy season the washings of the plant flow to low land areas, where different crops are cultivated. The production in these contaminated crop fields significantly reduced. Significant amount of residual lead was observed in the older plant leaves. The roadside plants were showing stunted growth and decrease in pigment content was noted in the roadside plant leaves compared to standard control plant leaves. Biomolecular analysis indicated that FAA and RNA content slightly increased whereas other biomolecules like DNA & RNA decreased significantly in lead nitrate exposed seedlings compared to control seedlings. Noteworthy changes in DNA content was not observed in exposed seedlings, indicating no cell death induced by lead. But the interference of lead in biomolecular synthesis can not be ruled out.