Evaluation of Ameliorative Role of Biochar on Chromium Toxicity in Bottle Gourd

The present attempt was made to elucidate the ameliorative role of Biochar (BC) in response to chromium toxicity on bottle gourd seed germination.In this study, seeds were grown in pot experiment with six treatments (Control, Low Cr-20mg/kg, High Cr-100mg/kg, BC-2%, BC-2%+Low Cr-20mg/kg, BC-2%+High Cr-100mg/kg).Harvesting was done after 40 days of development.Growth parameters, including physiological and biochemical variables, were observed to delimit the response in term of biochar exposure under chromium stress.Resultsshowed that the application of Biochar (2%) significantly changed soil pH, improved crop growth and as well as reduced the antioxidant response of bottle gourd in Cr contaminated soil.Results revealed that in presence of Cr (20mg/kg soil and 100mg/kg soil) stress, a continuously reduction was observed in growth and physiological attributes and increased antioxidant enzyme activities accordingly in bottle gourd plant.In these parameters, more deterioration effect was observed when Cr (100mg/kg) was added in the soil.Biochar application (2%) played a crucial role in reducing the Cr toxicity (20 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg) level, resulting in significant increase in plant vine length (20% and 15%), biomass (fresh and dry) (7% and 24%), no. of leaves/plant (53% and 25%), chlorophyll a content (18%, 64%), chlorophyll b content (41%, 73%), relative water content (13% and 26%) and MSI (14%, 11%).Biochar's potential was seen to be slightly lower, when applied to high Cr-100 mg/kg concentration as compared to low Cr-20 mg/kg concentration.In conclusion, adding biochar to soils may be an effective environment friendly way to reduce Cr toxicity and improve plant health and growth.