Nayana Brahmbhatt, Rinku Patel and R. T. Jasrai
Industrial wastes has been recognized as one of the major source of heavy metal pollution in environment resulting into serious consequences. Oscillatoria sp. has shown promise in the biological management of pollutants because of its high potential to absorb heavy metals. Exponentally growing algae of Oscillatoria sp. were exposed to various concentrations (2, 5, 10, 20 & 30ppm) of Cr and Pb for 21 days. Algae accumulated appreciable amount of both metals from solution, however, accumulation of Cr was lower compared to Pb. At same doses also estimated various biochemical activities including chlorophylls (chl-a, chl-b & total chl), protein, proline and sugar in these experiment. Chlorophyll content in the algae increased at all doses of the metals in comparison to unstressed algae which could be used as biomarker of metal toxicity.
