ABSTRACT
A pot culture experiment was conducted to study the effect of biomass power plant effluent on seed germination, seedling growth and chlorophyll content of green gram (variety LGG 460) have been estimated at different effluent concentrations and time intervals. The effluent is alkaline in nature (pH 8.5), odorless, and comprises of heavy metals such as Cr (0.071 mg l-1),Cu (0.014 mg l-1), Mn (0.036 mg l-1), Fe (0.05 mg l-1),Co (0.31 mg l-1), Ni (0.041 mg l-1),Cd (0.028 mg l-1), Pb (0.108 mg l-1) and Zn (6.73 mg l-1). The germination percentage of seed, seedling growth and chlorophyll content showed a gradual decline with increase in effluent concentration. It has been observed that at 25% effluent concentration, there is growth in the root length (3.50 cm seedling-1), an increase in shoot length (23.90 cm seedling-1) and total chlorophyll content (4.467 mg g-1 fresh weight) up to 20 days. After 20th day there is decline in all the parameters observed. However, at higher concentrations of the effluent, toxic effects were observed from 20th day. This suggests that the effluent can be used safely for green gram cultivation, only after proper treatment and dilution.