Open Access
ARTICLE
Application of ferrous sulfate alleviates negative impact of cadmium in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
JAVARIA AFZAL1,2,#, XIUKANG WANG3,*, MUHAMMAD HAMZAH SALEEM4,#, XUECHENG SUN1, SHAHID HUSSAIN5, IMRAN KHAN6, MUHAMMAD SHOAIB RANA1, SHAKEEL AHMED7, SAMRAH AFZAL AWAN6, SAJID FIAZ8, OMAR AZIZ9, KASHIF ALI KUBAR10, SHAFAQAT ALI11,12, CHENGXIAO HU1,*
1 Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China
2 Department of Soil Science, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, 70060, Pakistan
3 College of Life Sciences, Yan’an University, Yan’an, 716000, China
4 College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China
5 Schools of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China
6 Department of Grassland Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
7 Instituto de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, 5110566, Chile
8 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22620, Pakistan
9 Department of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Sub-Campus Depalpur, Okara, Pakistan
10 Faculty of Agriculture, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Uthal, 90150, Pakistan
11 Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan
12 Department of Biological Sciences and Technology, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan
* Corresponding Authors: XIUKANG WANG. Email: ; CHENGXIAO HU. Email:
BIOCELL 2021, 45(6), 1631-1649. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.014934
Received 09 November 2020; Accepted 23 December 2020; Issue published 01 September 2021
Abstract
Soil contamination with toxic heavy metals [such as cadmium (Cd)] is becoming a serious global problem due
to rapid development of social economy. Iron (Fe), being an important element, has been found effective in enhancing
plant tolerance against biotic and abiotic stresses. The present study investigated the extent to which different levels of
Ferrous sulphate (FeSO
4) modulated the Cd tolerance of rice (
Oryza sativa L.), when maintained in artificially Cd
spiked regimes. A pot experiment was conducted under controlled conditions for 146 days, by using natural soil,
mixed with different levels of CdCl
2 [0 (no Cd), 0.5 and 1 mg/kg] together with the exogenous application of FeSO
4
at [0 (no Fe), 1.5 and 3 mg/kg] levels to monitor different growth, gaseous exchange characteristics, oxidative stress,
antioxidative responses, minerals accumulation, organic acid exudation patterns of
O. sativa. Our results depicted that
addition of Cd to the soil significantly (P < 0.05) decreased plant growth and biomass, gaseous exchange parameters,
mineral uptake by the plants, sugars (soluble, reducing, and non-reducing sugar) and altered the ultrastructure of
chloroplasts, plastoglobuli, mitochondria, and many other cellular organelles in Cd-stressed
O. sativa compared to
those plants which were grown without the addition of Cd in the soil. However, Cd toxicity boosted the production of
reactive oxygen species (ROS) by increasing the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), which is the indication of
oxidative stress in
O. sativa and was also manifested by hydrogen peroxide (H
2O
2) contents and electrolyte leakage to
the membrane bounded organelles. Although, activities of various antioxidative enzymes like superoxidase dismutase
(SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and non-enzymatic antioxidants like
phenolics, flavonoid, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin and proline contents increased up to a Cd level of 0.5 mg/kg in the
soil but were significantly diminished at the highest Cd level of 1 mg/kg in the soil compared to those plants which
were grown without the addition of Cd in the soil. The negative impacts of Cd injury were reduced by the application
of FeSO
4 which increased plant growth and biomass, improved photosynthetic apparatus, antioxidant enzymes, minerals uptake together with diminished exudation of organic acids as well as oxidative stress indicators in roots and
shoots of
O. sativa by decreasing Cd retention in different plant parts. These results shed light on the effectiveness of
FeSO
4 in improving the growth and upregulation of antioxidant enzyme activities of
O. sativa in response to Cd
stress. However, further studies at field levels are required to explore the mechanisms of FeSO
4-mediated reduction of
the toxicity of not only Cd, but possibly also other heavy metals in plants.
Keywords
Cite This Article
AFZAL, J., WANG, X., SALEEM, M. H., SUN, X., HUSSAIN, S. et al. (2021). Application of ferrous sulfate alleviates negative impact of cadmium in rice (
Oryza sativa L.).
BIOCELL, 45(6), 1631–1649.
Citations