European Journal of Biotechnology and Bioscience

Authors
Shobha N, G Savitha

Abstract
In the present work, the effect of different concentrations of Metalaxyl, a systemic fungicide, on the carbohydrate content and thernenzymes of carbohydrate metabolism during early germination (0-7 days) of maize seedlings is studied. In our study α–amylasernactivity increased progressively in control seeds till 7^th day of germination. Maximum activity of α–Amylase with nearly 100 foldrnincrease was observed with 4.5mg/g treated seeds on 3^rd day of germination with a gradual decline. Similar pattern of activity wasrnobserved with β-amylase. A gradual decline in the invertase activity was seen in control seeds till 3^rd day and further increase onrnsubsequent days. The seeds treated 4.5mg/g of fungicide showed an enhanced activity of invertase on 3^rd day. Maximum activity ofrninvertase was observed in both control and fungicide treated seeds. Similar pattern could also be observed with the totalrncarbohydrates, reducing and non-reducing sugars on different days of germination in control and treated seeds. Further work is inrnprogress to understand the mechanism of the interaction of metalaxyl in carbohydrate metabolism, during germination.