How Carbon Nanoparticles, Arbuscular Mycorrhiza, and Compost Mitigate Drought Stress in Maize Plant: A Growth and Biochemical Study

Emad A Alsherif; Omar Almaghrabi; Ahmed M Elazzazy; Mohamed Abdel-Mawgoud; Gerrit T S Beemster; Renato Lustosa Sobrinho; Hamada AbdElgawad

doi:10.3390/plants11233324

How Carbon Nanoparticles, Arbuscular Mycorrhiza, and Compost Mitigate Drought Stress in Maize Plant: A Growth and Biochemical Study

Plants (Basel). 2022 Dec 1;11(23):3324. doi: 10.3390/plants11233324.

Authors

Emad A Alsherif^{1

2}, Omar Almaghrabi³, Ahmed M Elazzazy^{3

4}, Mohamed Abdel-Mawgoud^{5

6}, Gerrit T S Beemster⁷, Renato Lustosa Sobrinho⁸, Hamada AbdElgawad^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, College of Science and Arts at Khulis, University of Jeddah, Jeddah 23218, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni Suef 2722165, Egypt.
³ Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah 23218, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Division National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt.
⁵ National Natural Products Research Center, College of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38655, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products, Desert Research Center, Cairo 11753, Egypt.
⁷ Integrated Molecular Plant Physiology Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Agronomy, Federal University of Technology-Paraná (UTFPR), Pato Branco 85503-390, PR, Brazil.

Abstract

Drought negatively affects crop growth and development, so it is crucial to develop practical ways to reduce these consequences of water scarcity. The effect of the interactive potential of compost (Comp), mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and carbon nanoparticles (CNPS) on plant growth, photosynthesis rate, primary metabolism, and secondary metabolism was studied as a novel approach to mitigating drought stress in maize plants. Drought stress significantly reduced maize growth and photosynthesis and altered metabolism. Here, the combined treatments Com-AMF or Com-AMF-CNPs mitigated drought-induced reductions in fresh and dry weights. The treatments with AMF or CNPS significantly increased photosynthesis (by 10%) in comparison to the control plants. Results show that soluble sugars were accumulated to maintain the osmotic status of the maize plant under drought stress. The level and metabolism of sucrose, an osmo-protectant, were increased in plants treated with Com (by 30%), which was further increased under the triple effect of Com-AMF-CNPs (40%), compared to untreated plants. This was inconsistent with increased sucrose-phosphate synthase and sucrose-P-synthase activity. The combined treatment Com-AMF-CNPs increased the levels of oxalic and succinic acids (by 100%) and has been reflected in the enhanced levels of amino acids such as the antioxidant and omso-protectant proline. Higher increases in fatty acids by treatment with CNPS were also recorded. Com-AMF-CNPs enhanced many of the detected fatty acids such as myristic, palmitic, arachidic, docosanoic, and pentacosanoic (110%, 30%, 100%, and 130%, respectively), compared to untreated plants. At the secondary metabolism level, sugar and amino acids provide a route for polyamine biosynthesis, where Com-AMF-CNPs increased spermine and spermidine synthases, ornithine decarboxylase, and adenosyl methionine decarboxylase in treated maize. Overall, our research revealed for the first time how Cmo, AMF, and/or CNPS alleviated drought stress in maize plants.

Keywords: corn; fatty acid; organic acid; photosynthesis; proline; sustainable agriculture.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by [University of Jeddah] grant number [UJ-21-ICI-9] and The APC was funded by [University of Jeddah].