Mitigating drought and heavy metal stress in maize using melatonin and sodium nitroprusside

IF 3.9 2区农林科学 Q1 AGRONOMY Plant and Soil Pub Date : 2024-11-18 DOI:10.1007/s11104-024-07077-9

Fazal Ullah, Saddam Saqib, Wajid Zaman, Wajid Khan, Ling Zhao, Adnan Khan, Wasim Khan, You-Cai Xiong

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Abstract

Background and aims

Drought and heavy metals (HMs) stress significantly impact maize (Zea mays L.), which is crucial for global food security. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and melatonin (MT) in alleviating the detrimental effects of drought and HMs’ stress on the growth and development of maize.

Methods

Maize plants were exposed to lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) under well-watered (WW), mild water stress (MWS), moderate water stress (MoWS), and severe water stress (SWS) conditions. The impact of these treatments on plant biomass, photosynthetic efficiency, antioxidant defense mechanisms, and water usage efficiency (WUE) was assessed.

Results

Drought stress dramatically reduced plant biomass; under SWS compared to WW, fresh and dry weight decreased by up to 24% and 28%, respectively. Under MWS, fresh biomass was improved by 15% in the MT group and 13% in the SNP group, respectively. Dry weight was promoted by 17% in MT and 15% in SNP respectively. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in biomass and photosynthetic efficiency (p < 0.05). MT and SNP boosted photosynthetic efficiency, triggered antioxidant defense mechanisms, and increased WUE by 20% under MWS and 43% under SWS. Under extreme water stress, MT and SNP reduced nutrient absorption losses, especially for potassium.

Conclusions

The results suggest that MT and SNP increase biomass production, photosynthetic efficiency, antioxidant activity, and nutrient absorption in maize, thereby enhancing resilience to drought and HM stress.

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利用褪黑素和硝普钠缓解玉米的干旱和重金属胁迫

背景和目的干旱和重金属（HMs）胁迫对全球粮食安全至关重要的玉米（Zea mays L.）造成严重影响。本研究的目的是评估硝普钠（SNP）和褪黑激素（MT）在减轻干旱和重金属胁迫对玉米生长发育的不利影响方面的有效性。方法在水分充足（WW）、轻度水胁迫（MWS）、中度水胁迫（MoWS）和严重水胁迫（SWS）条件下，将玉米植株暴露于铅（Pb）和镉（Cd）的胁迫下。结果干旱胁迫大大降低了植物的生物量；在 SWS 条件下，与 WW 相比，植物的鲜重和干重分别减少了 24% 和 28%。在 MWS 条件下，MT 组和 SNP 组的新鲜生物量分别提高了 15%和 13%。干重在 MT 组和 SNP 组分别提高了 17%和 15%。统计分析显示，生物量和光合效率存在显著差异（p < 0.05）。MT和SNP提高了光合效率，激发了抗氧化防御机制，并在MWS条件下将WUE提高了20%，在SWS条件下提高了43%。结果表明，MT 和 SNP 能提高玉米的生物量产量、光合效率、抗氧化活性和养分吸收率，从而增强对干旱和 HM 胁迫的适应能力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Plant and Soil 农林科学-农艺学

CiteScore

8.20

自引率

8.20%

发文量

543

审稿时长

2.5 months

期刊介绍： Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and that enhance our mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions. We focus on the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and seek those manuscripts with a strong mechanistic component which develop and test hypotheses aimed at understanding underlying mechanisms of plant-soil interactions. Manuscripts can include both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral nutrition, plant water relations, symbiotic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, root anatomy and morphology, soil biology, ecology, agrochemistry and agrophysics, as long as they are hypothesis-driven and enhance our mechanistic understanding. Articles including a major molecular or modelling component also fall within the scope of the journal. All contributions appear in the English language, with consistent spelling, using either American or British English.