Effect of soil amendments on antioxidant activity and photosynthetic pigments in pea crops grown in arsenic contaminated soil

Mohammad Zahangeer Alam; Lynne Carpenter-Boggs; Md Anamul Hoque; Golam Jalal Ahammed

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05475

Effect of soil amendments on antioxidant activity and photosynthetic pigments in pea crops grown in arsenic contaminated soil

Heliyon. 2020 Nov 11;6(11):e05475. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05475. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Authors

Mohammad Zahangeer Alam¹, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs², Md Anamul Hoque³, Golam Jalal Ahammed⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur, 1706, Bangladesh.
² Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University (WSU), Pullman, WA, 99164-6420, USA.
³ Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, 2202, Bangladesh.
⁴ College of Forestry, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471023, PR China.

Abstract

The mechanism of arsenic (As) immobilization in soils is crucial for improving photosynthetic pigments and antioxidants in food crops. The effects of soil amendments with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), biochar (BC), selenium (Se), sulfur (S) and Si-gel on the concentrations of chlorophyll, carotenoid, proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), and the activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) were studied in BARI pea (Pisum sativum ) under As stress. Soil amendments with AMF, Se, Si-gel and S enhanced chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll contents by 31-35% and 60-75%, respectively. Likewise, CAT activity was increased by 24-46% in BC, AMF, Se, Si-gel and S-treated pea, respectively. APX and POD activity was also found to be enriched with the treatment of BC, AMF and Se. In contrast, the content of MDA and proline was found lower than that of control in peas. These findings indicate that oxidative damage, osmotic stress and cell injury were possibly reduced in As-stressed peas. Particularly, AMF and Se both were comparatively more potential in comparison to BC. Thus, soil amendments with AMF, BC and Se are significantly important for improving antioxidant enzyme activity of food crops grown in soil with elevated As levels.

Keywords: Agricultural soil science; Agronomy; Antioxidant; Arsenic; Catalase; Contaminated soil; Environmental chemistry; Environmental hazard; Pea; Soil amendments; Soil science.