Paper Title
INVESTIGATION ON THE MECHANISM OF THIOUREA MEDIATED AMELIORATION OF HEAVY METAL STRESS IN RICE

Abstract
Thiourea (TU) is a non-physiological thiol based plant bioregulator widely used for mitigating the negative impacts of various abiotic stresses. In the same line, this paper aims to investigate the mechanism of TU mediated amelioration of cadmium (Cd) stresses in rice. Heavy metals increase the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which leads to oxidative damage and ultimately the growth reduction in the plants. Owing to its ROS scavenger nature, TU supplementation limit the increase in ROS levels, especially under the heavy metal stress conditions. In order to demonstrate this, seed priming was performed with variable doses of TU (100-1500 PPM) and 500 PPM was found optimum for maintaining seedling vigor index under cadmium (Cd) stress conditions in rice. Taken together, we demonstrated that TU supplementation can mitigate heavy metal stress at pre-(seed priming) germination growth stage by improving the germination index and seedling vigor index.