Mitigation of lead toxicity in Vigna radiata genotypes by silver nanoparticles

Fu Chen; Muhammad Aqeel; Muhammad Faisal Maqsood; Noreen Khalid; Muhammad Kashif Irshad; Muhammad Ibrahim; Noreen Akhter; Muhammad Afzaal; Jing Ma; Mohamed Hashem; Saad Alamri; Ali Noman; Su Shiung Lam

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119606

Mitigation of lead toxicity in Vigna radiata genotypes by silver nanoparticles

Environ Pollut. 2022 Sep 1:308:119606. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119606. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China; Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, PR China.
² State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, PR China.
³ Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Botany, Government College Women University Sialkot, Sialkot, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Environmental Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Botany, Government College Women University, Faisalabad, 38060, Pakistan.
⁷ School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia; Assiut University, Faculty of Science, Botany and Microbiology Department, Assiut, 71516, Egypt.
⁹ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Department of Botany, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: alinoman@gcuf.edu.pk.
¹¹ Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries (AKUATROP), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.

PMID: 35716894
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119606

Abstract

Heavy metal (HM) contamination of the soil through anthropogenic activities influences the living systems and drastically impacts food chain. This study examined the application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in two genotypes (G1 and G2) of Mung bean (Vigna radiata) for ameliorating the Pb toxicity. Different doses of Pb (0, 25, 50 μM) were differentially tackled by AgNPs with the aim of ameliorating the plant attributes. Both genotypes displayed statistically significant quantitative and qualitative modulations for Pb tolerance. In G2, the most prominent increase in plant height (43.79%), fresh biomass (49.56%) and total chlorophyll (20%) was observed at L2 (AgNPs 10 mg/L) in comparison with the control. Overall, photosynthetic rate was increased by 26% in G2 at L6 (AgNPs 25 mg/L + Pb 25 μM). In addition, the results presented 78.5% increase in water use efficiency of G2 while G1 experienced a maximum internal CO₂ concentration (209.8%) at L8 (Pb 50 μM). AgNPs triggered balanced uptake of minerals and improved growth of Vigna genotypes. 50 μM Pb was most hazardous and caused maximum reduction in growth of Vigna plants along with a significant suppression in photosynthetic activity, increase in MDA (199.7%) in G1 and H₂O₂ (292.8%) in G2. In comparison to control, maximum superoxide dismutase (376%), peroxidase (659.8%) and catalase (9.3%) activity was observed in G2 at L11. The application of AgNPs substantially enhanced plant growth and helped them in surviving well in absence as well as presence of Pb. G2 genotype exhibited substantial tolerance capability and revealed less impairment in the studied attributes than G1 and treatment of AgNPs i.e. 25 mg/L was the best level that yielded best results in both genotypes. The results demonstrate that AgNPs mediate response(s) of plants under Pb stress and particularly contributed to HM tolerance of plants and thus showing great promise for use in phytoremediation.

Keywords: Amelioration; Biomass; Crops; Metal stress; Mineral quantification; Plant productivity.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants
Genotype
Hydrogen Peroxide
Lead / toxicity
Metal Nanoparticles* / toxicity
Silver / toxicity
Vigna* / genetics

Substances

Antioxidants
Lead
Silver
Hydrogen Peroxide