EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF PUTRESCINE ON OXIDATIVE STRESS IN TWO CHROMIUM TREATED MAIZE VARIETIES

Two maize varieties viz. Sartaj and Deccan was treated with chromium to elucidate the effect of this heavy metal. Oxidative stress responses under such treatment were also estimated after exogenous addition of polyamine. Seedlings of those two maize varieties were treated with 300 µM of chromium and another same treatment set with 1mM putrescine. Toxic effects of chromium leaded to changes of oxidative stress regarding shoot and root growth retardation, generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) like O2·-, H2O2, etc. inside the plant cells, protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation. Changes in activities of different oxidative enzymes were also observed. Variety Sartaj showed more proneness to oxidative stress and simultaneously less response to applied putrescine compared to Deccan which was again confirmed by nuclear disintegration study using comet assay. Sartaj retrieved nuclei tail less even under putrescine treatment than Deccan did. Atomic absorption spectrometry analyses and scanning electron microscopic images of roots’ sections revealed that Deccan as a more tolerant variety over Sartaj by hyper accumulating chromium.