Effects of Rhizospheric A. terreus upon Growth, Phytohormone Homeostasis, and Antioxidant Responses in B. Juncea L. under Arsenic Stress: A Multivariate Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32350/bsr.83.04Keywords:
Arsenic toxicity, A. terreus, B. juncea, Phytoremediation, PhytohormonesAbstract
Background. Agricultural soil contamination by arsenic (As) is a severe environmental problem and affects soil-plant systems which can pose risk to food safety by trophic transfer. Inoculation with microorganisms can be used as a tool to enhance plant performance under metal(loid) stress; however, the physiological and biochemical mechanisms by which rhizospheric fungi affect plant responses to arsenic are poorly understood, especially in Brassica juncea. In the current study, the rhizosphere isolate of fungus Aspergillus terreus was evaluated as bioinoculant to reduce arsenic phytotoxicity in B. juncea, an oilseed crop with agronomic and phytoremediation significance.
Methods. A total of thirteen treatments were employed, comprising the control treatment, four arsenic treatments (30-120 ppm), four treatments of arsenic + A. terreus, and four treatments of A. terreus. The number of plants that were used to maintain three uniform plants per pot was determined for each treatment (3 replicates) as biological replicates. Growth and biochemical characteristics of the plants were determined, while the variations among the different treatments and responses due to biomass were evaluated using PCA and structural path analysis.
Results. Dose-dependent phytotoxicity occurred on exposure to arsenic, which caused a 46.2% decrease in shoot length and 64.7% decrease in dry biomass at 120 ppm (p < 0.001). A. terreus inoculation was able to reverse this toxicity, with an increase of 7.1% in shoot length and 9.5% in fresh biomass at 30 ppm, as compared to controls. Further, 96.5% of agronomic variance and 92.2% of biochemical variance respectively was explained with clear separation among treatments. The correlation of phytohormones with biomass was high (r > 0.90) and those for phenols and proline were high negative (r < −0.90). Path analysis results showed that protein synthesis (r = +0.19) and phytohormonal regulation (r = +0.63) are the main drivers of biomass (R2 = 0.967).
Conclusion. The phytohormonal and antioxidant metabolic regulation by A. terreus in B. juncea represents a viable and cost-effective approach for bioremediation of As-contaminated agricultural soils.
Highlights
- Under As-stress, terreus showed a significant effect on reducing growth inhibition and enhancing biomass production in B. juncea.
- Increased levels of phytohormones (IAA and GA₃) and protein buildup along with decreased oxidative stress markers showed that fungal inoculation provided stress tolerance.
- Through multivariate and path analyses, phytohormonal regulation and protein synthesis were found to be the key processes that influenced biomass recovery and suggested the potential of terreus in sustainable bioremediation of As-contaminated soils.
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