THE EFFECT OF LEAD POLLUTION ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Abstract

Pollution of agricultural lands is one of the environmental problems that is becoming more and more important nowadays. Heavy metal pollution is at the forefront of these problems due to industrial and agricultural activities. As a consequence of the heavy metal pollution that occurs in the agricultural soil, these pollutants are accumulated by the cultivated plants and reach the human body through the food chain. Lead pollution has an important place among heavy metals. Lead is a heavy metal widely distributed and present in many forms on earth's natural resources. Concentrations of lead in the environment are rapidly increasing due to anthropogenic activities. Lead damage occurs indirectly by binding lead to free radicals or directly by binding to molecules. Plants can protect themselves from the stress of lead heavy metal by developing mechanisms such as avoidance, accumulation and defense from the intake of lead heavy metal. It is known that lead application affects enzyme activity, water balance, growth and development, mineral matter uptake and transport, hormone level and membrane permability depending on plant type, dose and duration. When all these conditions are taken into consideration, avoiding heavy metal lead stress has become an important field of work that can increase productivity in plant production and affect human health as well as to attain quality standards.