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Interactive role of zinc and iron lysine on Spinacia oleracea L. growth, photosynthesis and antioxidant capacity irrigated with tannery wastewater

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Abstract

Untreated wastewater contains toxic amounts of heavy metals such as chromium (Cr), which poses a serious threat to the growth and physiology of plants when used in irrigation. Though, Cr is among the most widespread toxic trace elements found in agricultural soils due to various anthropogenic activities. To explore the interactive effects of micronutrients with amino acid chelators [iron-lysine (Fe-lys) and zinc-lysine (Zn-lys)], pot experiments were conducted in a controlled environment, using spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) plant irrigated with tannery wastewater. S. oleracea was treated without Fe and Zn-lys (0 mg/L Zn-lys and 0 mg/L Fe-lys) and also treated with various combinations of (interactive application) Fe and Zn-lys (10 mg/L Zn-lys and 5 mg/L Fe-lys), when cultivated at different levels [0 (control) 33, 66 and 100%) of tannery wastewater in the soil having a toxic level of Cr in it. According to the results, we have found that, high concentration of Cr in the soil significantly (P < 0.05) reduced plant height, fresh biomass of roots and leaves, dry biomass of roots and leaves, root length, number of leaves, leaf area, total chlorophyll contents, carotenoid contents, transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (gs), net photosynthesis (PN), and water use efficiency (WUE) and the contents of Zn and Fe in the plant organs without foliar application of Zn and Fe-lys. Moreover, phytotoxicity of Cr increased malondialdehyde (MDA) contents in the plant organs (roots and leaves), which induced oxidative damage in S. oleracea manifested by the contents of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and membrane leakage. The negative effects of Cr toxicity could be overturned by Zn and Fe-lys application, which significantly (P < 0.05) increase plant growth, biomass, chlorophyll content, and gaseous exchange attributes by reducing oxidative stress (H2O2, MDA, EL) and increasing the activities of various antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). Furthermore, the supplementation of Zn and Fe-lys increased the contents of essential nutrients (Fe and Zn) and decreased the content of Cr in all plant parts compared to the plants cultivated in tannery wastewater without application of Fe-lys. Taken together, foliar supplementation of Zn and Fe-lys alleviates Cr toxicity in S. oleracea by increased morpho-physiological attributes of the plants, decreased Cr contents and increased micronutrients uptake by the soil, and can be an effective in heavy metal toxicity remedial approach for other crops.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan and Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, for their support. The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSP-2020/180), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Author notes

  1. Ihsan Elahi Zaheer and Muhammad Hamzah Saleem have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Allama Iqbal Road, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Ihsan Elahi Zaheer, Shafaqat Ali, Anam Sehar, Zohaib Abbas & Muhammad Rizwan

  2. Department of Biological Sciences and Technology, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan

    Shafaqat Ali

  3. MOA Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Muhammad Hamzah Saleem

  4. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100000, China

    Mohsin Ali

  5. Root Biology Center, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, Guangdong, China

    Muhammad Riaz

  6. Department of Botany, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Sehar Javed

  7. Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Mohamed A. El-Sheikh & Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni

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  1. Ihsan Elahi Zaheer
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Zaheer, I.E., Ali, S., Saleem, M.H. et al. Interactive role of zinc and iron lysine on Spinacia oleracea L. growth, photosynthesis and antioxidant capacity irrigated with tannery wastewater. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 26, 2435–2452 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-020-00912-0

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