Recently, a promising technique has come forward in field of radiation-agriculture in which the natural polysaccharides are modified into useful oligomers after depolymerization. Ionizing radiation technology is a simple, pioneering, eco-friendly, and single step degradation process which is used in exploiting the efficiency of the natural polysaccharides as plant growth promoters. Arsenic (As) is a noxious and toxic to growth and development of medicinal plants. Artemisinin is obtained from the leaves of Artemisia annua L., which is effective in the treatment of malaria. The present study was undertaken to find out possible role of oligomers of irradiated carrageenan (IC) on two varieties viz. ‘CIM-Arogya’ (As-tolerant) and ‘Jeevan Raksha’ (As-sensitive) of A. annua exposed to As. The treatments applied were 0 (control), 40 IC (40 mg L−1 IC), 80 IC (80 mg L−1 IC), 45 As (45 mg kg−1 soil As), 40 IC + 45 As (40 mg L−1 IC + 45 mg kg−1 soil As), and 80 IC + 45 As (80 mg L−1 IC + 45 mg kg−1 soil As). The present study was based on various parameters namely plant fresh weight (FW), dry weight (DW), leaf area index (LAI), leaf yield (LY), chlorophyll and carotenoid content, net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (Gs), carbonic anhydrase activity (CA), proline content (PRO), lipid peroxidation (TBARS), endogenous ROS production (H2O2 content), catalase activity (CAT), peroxidase activity (POX), superoxide dismutase activity (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase activity (APX), As content, and artemisinin content in leaves. Plant growth and other physiological and biochemical parameters including enzymatic activities, photosynthetic activity, and its related pigments were negatively affected under As stress. Leaf-applied IC overcame oxidative stress generated due to As in plants by activating antioxidant machinery. Interestingly, leaf-applied IC enhanced the production (content and yield) of artemisinin under high As stress regardless of varieties. The oligomers of IC and As were found to be responsible for the production of endogenous H2O2 which has a pivotal role in the biosynthesis of artemisinin in A. annua.

中文翻译：

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角叉菜胶寡聚体调节暴露于砷胁迫下的青蒿功能活性和青蒿素生产

最近，在辐射农业领域出现了一种很有前途的技术，其中天然多糖在解聚后被修饰成有用的低聚物。电离辐射技术是一种简单、开创性、生态友好的单步降解过程，用于开发天然多糖作为植物生长促进剂的效率。砷 (As) 对药用植物的生长发育有害且有毒。青蒿素是从青蒿的叶子中提取的，可有效治疗疟疾。本研究旨在找出辐照角叉菜胶 (IC) 的低聚物对两个品种的可能作用，即。暴露于 As 的青蒿的“CIM-Arogya”（As 耐受）和“Jeevan Raksha”（As 敏感）。应用的处理为 0（对照）、40 IC（40 mg L-1 IC）、80 IC (80 mg L−1 IC)、45 As (45 mg kg−1 土壤 As)、40 IC + 45 As (40 mg L−1 IC + 45 mg kg−1 土壤 As) 和 80 IC + 45 As（80 mg L−1 IC + 45 mg kg−1 土壤 As）。本研究基于各种参数，即植物鲜重 (FW)、干重 (DW)、叶面积指数 (LAI)、叶产量 (LY)、叶绿素和类胡萝卜素含量、净光合速率 (PN)、气孔导度 ( Gs）、碳酸酐酶活性（CA）、脯氨酸含量（PRO）、脂质过氧化（TBARS）、内源性ROS产生（H2O2含量）、过氧化氢酶活性（CAT）、过氧化物酶活性（POX）、超氧化物歧化酶活性（SOD）、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶活性 (APX)、砷含量和青蒿素含量。植物生长和其他生理生化参数，包括酶活性、光合活性、及其相关色素在砷胁迫下受到负面影响。叶子应用的 IC 通过激活抗氧化机制克服了由于植物中 As 产生的氧化应激。有趣的是，无论品种如何，叶施 IC 都能在高砷胁迫下提高青蒿素的产量（含量和产量）。发现 IC 和 As 的低聚物负责产生内源性 H2O2，H2O2 在青蒿中青蒿素的生物合成中起关键作用。