EFFECT OF INORGANIC ARSENATE ON GROWTH AND YIELD RESPONE OF BRINJAL (Solanum melongena L.) GROWN IN ARTIFICIALLY CONTAMINATED SOIL

Abstract

Arsenic (As), which is a highly toxic metalloid poses a serious risk to plants, animals and human health has become a major public concern in many countries including Bangladesh. A pot experiment was conducted with four different levels of arsenic at Agroforestry and Environmental Science field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka. There were four different arsenic levels viz. T 1 : Control (No arsenic in the soil); T 2 : 25 mg As kg ii -1 soil; T 3 : 50 mg As kg : 75 mg As kg -1 soil. Different data on growth and yield attributes were collected and analyzed statistically. It was observed that T 1 (no arsenic) treatment exposed the best results in terms of plant height, stem diameter (cm), number of leaves, leaf length (cm), leaf breadth (cm), length and weight of shoot and root, number of flowers and fruits, fruit length, fruit diameter and fruit weight of brinjal plant compared to other treatments. The maximum fruits (3.75) were observed in treatment T 1 (no arsenic in the soil) at 80 DAT which was significantly different from the others. Hence, from this study, it might be concluded that cultivation of brinjal plant was sensitive to arsenic stress and yield loss occurred with higher concentrations of arsenic. The treatment T 1

(no arsenic in the soil) exhibited the best result on growth as well as yield response of brinjal plant followed by T 2,

T 3 and T 4.