V.K. REWATKAR

Department of Botany, Shri Dnyanesh Mahavidyalaya, Nawargaon, Chandrapur District, India, 441223

Agriculture is one of the most ancient occupations in the world. The demand for food grew with the growth of world’s population. Over the past 30 years, the total amount of food grains in the world have increased at a faster rate than the average rate of population growth. This is made possible to increase crop production by replacing manure with chemical fertilizers, introduction of high yielding and disease resistant varieties, increased use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and rodenticides. The crop production is increased tremendously but negative impacts are seen resulting to environmental degradation. Cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) belonging to family Poaceae represents the world’s most important staple food, feeding more than half of the population. Asia accounts for 90 % of the world’s rice production as it grows well in alluvial soil with clayey subsoil. For high yield response practice of application of chemical fertilizers along with synthetic pesticides and rodenticides is common, which, results in soil contamination and become barren. The synthetic pesticides are sprayed on the plants which contain toxic elements that are absorbed by aerial plant parts and get deposited in the grains. These toxic elements present in the grains are detected by using EDXRF spectroscopy techniques.

Key words: Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, rice grain, microelements, chemical fertilizers, pesticides.

Author’s e-mail: vasantirewatkar29@gmail.com