The effects of environmental-based arsenic contamination on photosynthesis, antioxidant profiling, and biosynthesis of pistachio oil

Abstract

Toxic elements have adversely negative effect on soil, water and plants existing nearby. To investigate the impact of arsenic contamination on physiological properties, antioxidant activities, and synthesis of pistachio oil, an experiment was conducted in 2021 in a Completely Randomized Design. The obtained results have demonstrated that the highest As content in soil in Shahr-e-Babak area was 1200 (mg/kg), and the highest As content in irrigation water in Sirjan area averaged 483 (ug/l). On the other hand, the health limits for arsenic are 30 (mg/kg) in soil and 10 (ug/l) in water. Moreover, the results demonstrated that the amounts of arsenic in different organs, bio concentration factor (BCF), and Translocation factor (TF) were different. This amount in roots was higher significantly than in the leaves. The highest amounts of BCF found in the leaves and fruits (0.11 and 0.015, respectively). The TF changes were found more frequent in pistachio leaves than fruits up to 10 times. In addition, some variables like membrane leakage (%) malondialdehyde, carotenoids and flavonoids, glutathione peroxidase activity, glutathione reductase, phenylalanine amoliase, pyrroline-5-carboxylase synthase, lipoxygenase, and linoleic fatty acid moved upward due to an increase in total concentrations of arsenic. While, Chlorophyll a and b, protein content, glutathione, ascorbate peroxidase, proline dehydrogenase, oil content, oleic acid, and palmitic acid decreased linearly. Besides, changes in malondialdehyde, Chlorophyll a, flavonoids, and pyrroline-5-carboxylase synthase showed the high correlation with changes in arsenic level. Generally, it can be considered arsenic accumulation As a cause of damage of protein structure, cell membranes, and photosynthetic pigments in pistachio.