Alleviation of Salinity Induced Oxidative Stress in Chenopodium quinoa by Fe Biofortification and Biochar—Endophyte Interaction

Muhammad Naveed,Bushra Niamat,Zulfiqar Ahmad,Muhammad Yaseen,Weiqi Shi,Adnan Mustafa,Abdul Samad,Nan Sun,Minggang Xu,Natasha Ramzan,Mirza Hasanuzzaman

doi:10.3390/agronomy10020168

Abstract

Iron-biofortification is a sustainable food-based approach to combat iron deficiency by increasing iron content and bioavailability in agronomic crops. Siderophore producing microbes offer a sustainable and low-cost way to increase iron supply in crops. Also, certain substances released from organic amendments act as iron-chelators which increase the solubility as well as the availability of iron to plants. Present study investigated the role of siderophore-producing endophytic bacteria and biochar on iron-fortification of a novel crop quinoa in iron-limited saline conditions. The surface-disinfected seeds of quinoa were inoculated with Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN (CFU = 109) and sown in saline soil (EC 20 dS m−1) amended with biochar (1% w/w). Results revealed that biochar and PsJN particularly when applied together significantly enhanced plant growth, grain yield, and grain nutrient contents of quinoa. Strikingly, iron concentration in quinoa grains was increased up to 71% by the combined application of biochar and PsJN. Moreover, plant physiological parameters were also improved significantly by the integrated application. However, enzymatic/non-enzymatic antioxidants activities were decreased by integrated treatment thus ameliorated salinity stress. Our study suggests that integrated application of siderophore-producing bacteria and biochar could be a promising, sustainable and cost-effective strategy which is easily integratable into the existing farming practices to achieve food fortification with micronutrients in developing countries.

Highlights

Iron deficiency in plant-based foods continues to pose significant public health problems in resource-limited settings
Plant growth parameters varied considerably upon amendment of plant growth-promoting endophyte PsJN alone and in a combination with biochar. Both the sole bacterial inoculation and in combination with BC increased the growth, development and nutrient uptake of quinoa at both levels of iron fertilizer but the influence was more noticeable at 63 mg kg−1 iron level especially in the integrated application (PsJN + BC) (Table 1)
We examined the effect of endophytic bacterium Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN and organic amendment on the growth, physiology, and iron-fortification of an emerging crop quinoa in saline soil

Summary

Introduction

Iron deficiency in plant-based foods continues to pose significant public health problems in resource-limited settings. A recent investigation showed that iron deficiency in the newborn babies is responsible for irretrievable influence on the structure, function and the development of the brain [1,3]. Iron deficiency can be cured either through pharmacological iron supplementation or through agriculture-based iron biofortification. Iron-biofortification is a sustainable food-based technique to combat iron deficiencies in humans that can be achieved through three main strategies: (i) increase of iron content in grains or edible parts of plants (ii) increase of the prebiotics concentration in the plant edible parts that favor iron absorption (iii) decrease of antinutrients like phytic acid that reduce iron absorption in the human gut by iron chelating [4]

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Conclusion