Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles Article Faculty Publications -Articles Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Effect of heavy metals on germination, biochemical, antioxidant and withanolide content in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal Subject The topic of the resource antioxidant activity; heavy metal stress; LD50; withaferin A; Withania somnifera; withanolide A Description An account of the resource Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal., commonly referred to as Ashwagandha, is a medicinal plant from the solanaceae family with a wide range of pharmacological properties. W. somnifera is a rich source of withanolides, such as withanolide A, withanolide B, withanolide D, withaferin A and many others which are attributed for a large number of pharmacological activities. In the present study, the impact of heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) has been assessed on the growth, biochemical parameters, antioxidant activity and withanolide A and withaferin A content of W. somnifera. The seeds of W. somnifera were germinated in cocopeat and treated with different concentrations of Cd (20-200 ppm), Hg (10-100 ppm) and Pb (200-2000 ppm) for 21 days. There have been substantial differences between the heavy metal-treated plants and the control plants with the lowest germination of 20% observed in the plants treated with 2000 ppm Pb. The selected metals inhibited vegetative growth with lowest length of 3.07cm and lowest biomass of 0.74g in 180 ppm Cd and 200 ppm Cd treated plants respectively. With the addition of heavy metals, biochemical parameters like protein, carbohydrate, chlorophyll, total phenol, flavonoid and proline content varied significantly and showed metal tolerance by exhibiting antioxidant activity at lower concentrations. The metal accumulation occurred in a dose-dependent manner with highest Cd accumulation of 14.30mg kg?1, Hg accumulation of 42.45mg kg?1, and Pb accumulation of 217.46mg kg?1 of dry biomass of the plants. The withanolide content increased up to a specific metal concentration and decreased with a further increase in heavy metal concentration. The seeds treated with 1200 ppm of Pb showed the highest withanolide A content of 1.7mg g?1 dry weight (DW), and the seeds treated with 80 ppm of Cd showed the highest withaferin A content of 3.2mg g?1 DW. 2023 Horizon e-Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Banadka A.; Nagella P. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Plant Science Today, Vol-10, No. 3, pp. 363-374. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Horizon e-Publishing Group Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-01-01 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <a href="https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2366" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2366</a> <br /><br /><a href="https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85165901720&amp;doi=10.14719%2Fpst.2366&amp;partnerID=40&amp;md5=be458243cc55074df0fcec8622ea0d18" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85165901720&amp;doi=10.14719%2fpst.2366&amp;partnerID=40&amp;md5=be458243cc55074df0fcec8622ea0d18</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access Relation A related resource ISSN: 23481900| LS; 2023-2024; Vol-2; 0471-0482 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Online Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Article Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Banadka A., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, 560 029, India; Nagella P., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, 560 029, India