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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1497926
This article is part of the Research Topic Managing Metal Toxicity in Plants and Soil: Strategies for Stress Mitigation and Remediation View all 5 articles

Optimization of exogenous CeO2 nanoparticles on pak choi (Brassica rapa L. variety chinensis) to alleviate arsenic stress

Provisionally accepted
Rohina Tabassam Rohina Tabassam 1Shoaib Ahmad Shoaib Ahmad 2Adiba Khan Adiba Khan 2Azeem Ahmad Azeem Ahmad 3Sarah Owdah Alomrani Sarah Owdah Alomrani 4Abdul Ghafoor Abdul Ghafoor 5Tahira Akram Tahira Akram 3Mohammed Alshehri Mohammed Alshehri 6Sumaira Noor Sumaira Noor 2Shafaqat Ali Shafaqat Ali 7*
  • 1 Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 4 Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
  • 6 University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
  • 7 Government College University, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Arsenic (As) is a regulated hazardous substance that persists in the environment, causing issues related to environmental health, agriculture, and food safety. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) are emerging sustainable solutions for alleviating heavy metal stress. However, their effectiveness and optimization for foliar application in reducing As stress, especially in pakchoi, has not been reported yet. Hence, this study aims to examine the effects of foliar application of CeO2 NPs (75000000, 150000000, 300000000 ng/L) on the growth, nutrient availability, and antioxidant enzymatic activities of pakchoi plants under As stress.The findings showed that foliar application of CeO2 NPs 75000000 ng/L significantly increased shoot length (77.32%), root length (80.98%), and number of leaves (80.23%) as compared to control without NPs. Lowest dose of CeO2 NPs (75000000 ng/L) increased antioxidant enzyme activities such as peroxidase (86.10%), superoxide dismutase (81.48%), and catalase (52.07%), while significantly reducing malondialdehyde (44.02%), hydrogen peroxide (34.20%), and electrolyte leakage (43.53%). Furthermore, foliar application of CeO2 NPs (75000000 ng/L) significantly increased the content of zinc (81.02%), copper (56.99%), iron (88.04%), manganese (68.37%), magnesium (76.83%), calcium (61.16%), and potassium (84.91%) in leaves when compared to control without NPs. The same trend was observed for shoot and root nutrient concentrations. Most importantly, CeO2 NPs (75000000 ng/L) foliar application significantly reduced shoot As (45.11%) and root As (20.89%) concentration compared to control providing a reassuring indication of their potential to reduce As concentration in plants. Our study's findings are of utmost importance as they indicate that lower concentrations of foliar-applied CeO2 NPs can be more effective in enhancing crop nutrition and reducing heavy metals than higher concentrations. This article is intended to present critical issues of As contamination in agricultural soils, which imposes substantial risks to crop productivity and food security.

    Keywords: Arsenic, CeO2 NPs, Pak choi, Nutrient content, Chlorophyll content, Antioxidant enzyme activity

    Received: 18 Sep 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tabassam, Ahmad, Khan, Ahmad, Alomrani, Ghafoor, Akram, Alshehri, Noor and Ali. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shafaqat Ali, Government College University, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.