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Special Issue "Metal and Metalloid Toxicity in Plants"

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant–Soil Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 4667

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Paramsothy Jeyakumar

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Guest Editor

Environmental Sciences Group, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University of New Zealand, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
Interests: metal and metalloid toxicity in plants; microbial tolerane to soil contamination with toxic metals; controlled-release polymer-coated fertilisers; rhizosphere chemistry; low moecular weight organic acids and mechanism on nutrient uptake by plants; metal speciations

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To enhance primary sector production and productivity while maintaining and improving land quality for future generations, this generation needs to solve the problems limiting the use of soils for high-value crops. Crops cultivated in soils contaminated with toxic metal(loid)s can take up a high concentration of these metal(loid)s by roots and translocate them to their tissues. The contamination of most versatile soils with metal(loid)s threatens to limit their use for high-value pasture, vegetable, grain, and tuber cropping due to the risk of metal(loid) accumulation in the food chain. The management of the quality and quantity of crops grown in soil contaminated with potentially toxic metal(loid)s is a current challenge. Hence, investigating potential mechanisms that may play roles in metal(loid) uptake and translocation in plants could help to develop mitigation strategies.

This Special Issue of Plants will highlight the rhizosphere chemistry and uptake mechanisms of metal(loid)s, and will propose potential agronomical, microbiological, and molecular biological mitigation strategies to mitigate metal(loid) toxicity in plants.

Dr. Paramsothy Jeyakumar
Guest Editor

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Keywords

metals
metalloids
rhizosphere chemistry
organic acids
contamination
mitigation strategies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Study on the Behavior of Cadmium in the Soil Solution–Plant System by the Lysimeter Method Using the ¹⁰⁹Cd Radioactive Tracer

and

Plants 2023, 12(3), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030649 - 01 Feb 2023

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Abstract

In soils, cadmium (Cd) and its compounds, originating from industrial activities, differ both in mobility as well as in their ability to permeate the soil solution from naturally occurring cadmium compounds (native Cd). Therefore, the determination of the parameters of cadmium mobility in soils and its accumulation by plants in the soil–soil solution–plant system is very important from both scientific and practical viewpoints. ¹⁰⁹Cd was used as a radioactive tracer to study the processes of the transition of Cd into the aqueous phase and its uptake by plants over the course of a vegetative lysimeter experiment. Using sequential extraction according to the Tessier–Förstner procedure and modified BCR schemes, certain patterns were determined in the distribution of Cd/¹⁰⁹Cd among their forms in various compounds in the soil, along with the coefficients of the enrichment of native stable Cd with radioactive ¹⁰⁹Cd. It was shown that the labile pool of stable Cd compounds (29%) was significantly smaller than that of radioactive ¹⁰⁹Cd (69%). The key parameters characterizing the migration capacity of Cd in the soil–soil solution–plant system were determined. It was found that the distribution coefficient of native Cd between the soil and the quasi-equilibrium lysimeter solution exceeded the similar value for the ¹⁰⁹Cd radionuclide by 2.2 times, and the concentration coefficients of Cd and ¹⁰⁹Cd in the barley roots were 9 times higher than in its vegetative parts. During the experiment, the average removal of Cd (¹⁰⁹Cd) from the soil by each barley plant was insignificant: 0.002 (0.004)%. Based on the results of ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of a lyophilized sample of the high-molecular-weight dissolved organic matter (HMWDOM) of the soil solution, its components were determined. It transpired that the isolated lyophilized samples of HMWDOM with different molecular weights had an identical structural and functional composition. The selective sorption parameters of the HMWDOM and humic acid (HA) with respect to Cd²⁺ ions were determined by the isotope dilution method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal and Metalloid Toxicity in Plants)

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Open AccessArticle

Plant-Derived Smoke Solution Alleviates Cellular Oxidative Stress Caused by Arsenic and Mercury by Modulating the Cellular Antioxidative Defense System in Wheat

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Plants 2022, 11(10), 1379; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11101379 - 22 May 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1913

Abstract

Heavy metal stress is a significant factor in diminishing crop yield. Plant-derived smoke (PDS) has been used as a growth promoter and abiotic stress alleviator for the last two decades. Although the roles of PDS have been determined in various plants, its role in ameliorating heavy metal stress in wheat has not been reported so far. Therefore, the present work was conducted to investigate the effect of smoke solution extracted from a wild lemongrass Cymbopogon jwarancusa (C. jwarncusa) on physiological and biochemical features of wheat under arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) stress. The results showed that higher concentrations of As and Hg pose inhibitory effects on wheat seed germination and seedling growth, including shoot/root length and shoot/root fresh weight. Photosynthetic pigments, such as chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids, were significantly decreased under As and Hg stress. Importantly, the levels of H₂O₂, lipid peroxidation, and TBARS were increased in wheat seedlings. The activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as CAT, was decreased by As and Hg stress, while the levels of SOD, POD, and APX antioxidant enzymes were increased in root and shoot. Interestingly, the application of PDS (2000 ppm), individually or in combination with either As or Hg stress, enhanced wheat seed germination rate, shoot/root length, and shoot/root fresh weight. However, the levels of H₂O₂, lipid peroxidation, and TBARS were decreased. Similarly, the levels of SOD, POD, and APX were decreased by PDS under As and Hg stress, while the level of CAT was enhanced by PDS under As and Hg stress. Interestingly, the levels of chlorophyll a and b, and total carotenoids were increased with the application of PDS under As and Hg stress. It is concluded that PDS has the capability to alleviate the phytotoxic effects of As and Hg stress in wheat by modulating the antioxidative defense system and could be an economical solution to reduce the heavy metal stress in crops. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal and Metalloid Toxicity in Plants)

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Open AccessArticle

Modelling the Plant Uptake of Metals from Release Rates Obtained by the EUF Method

Manfred Sager

Plants 2022, 11(1), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11010085 - 28 Dec 2021

Viewed by 922

Abstract

In this study, soil dissolution kinetics were evaluated to predict the metal uptake of lettuce plants under varying conditions of fertilisation and metal pollution. Velocities and time dependencies of soil dissolution obtained by electro-ultrafiltration (EUF), which prevents back reaction, were modelled in three ways, obtained from suspensions in 0.002 M DTPA at determined soil pH levels, for cases in which sampling versus time led to decreasing concentrations. The models yielded a maximum achievable concentration, a timespan needed for it to be reached, a slope, and an intercept of the respective fitted curves. Three geogenically metalliferous soil samples and one ambient soil sample, both as originals, fertilised with PK or soaked with a Cd-Ni-Pb solution, were used as solid samples. The resulting kinetic parameters were correlated with the amounts absorbed by lettuce plants grown with these substrates in pot experiments, which yielded fairly good correlations with Zn, but also with Li and Sr, as well as Ni and Pb, mainly because of differences due to the addition of a metallic salt solution. Plant growth was hardly influenced by the additions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal and Metalloid Toxicity in Plants)

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