Abstract
Copper (Cu) is an important micronutrient for a plant’s normal growth and development. However, excess amount of Cu in the soil causes many severe problems in plants—which ultimately affect crop productivity and yield. Moreover, excess of Cu contents causes oxidative damage in the plant tissues by generating excess of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The present experiment was designed to investigate the phytoextraction potential of Cu, morpho-physiological features and biochemical reaction of jute (Corchorus capsularis L.) seedlings using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) of 3 mM under different Cu levels (0 (control), 50 and 100 μM) in a hydroponic nutrient solution (Hoagland). Our results showed that elevated Cu rates (50 and 100 μM) in the nutrient solution significantly reduced plant height, fresh and dry biomass, total chlorophyll content and gaseous exchange attributes in C. capsularis seedlings. As the concentration of Cu in the medium increased (50 and 100 μM), the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidative stress in C. capsularis seedlings also increased, which could have been controlled by antioxidant activity in particular plant cells. In addition, rising Cu concentration in the nutrient solution also increased Cu uptake and accumulation in roots and leaves as well as affected the ultrastructure of chloroplast of C. capsularis seedlings. The addition of EDTA to the nutrient solution significantly alleviated Cu toxicity in C. capsularis seedlings, showing a significantly increase in plant growth and biomass. MDA contents was not significantly increased in EDTA-induced plants, suggesting that this treatment was helpful in capturing ROS and thereby reducing ROS in in C. capsularis seedlings. EDTA modification with Cu, although the bioaccumulation factor in roots and leaves and translocation factor for the leaves of C. capsularis seedlings has significantly increased. These results indicate that C. capsularis has considerable potential to cope with Cu stress and is capable of removing a large quantity of Cu from the Cu-contaminated soil while using EDTA is a useful strategy to increase plant growth and biomass with Cu absorption capabilities.
Highlights
Increased concentrations of heavy metals are seriously threatened by soil pollution [1,2,3,4]
The results revealed that Cu-stressed plants, i.e., 100 μmol/L with the application of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), i.e., 3 mM exhibited 9%, 7%, 6% and 11% increase in plant height, plant diameter, fresh weight and dry weight by, respectively, when compared with 100 μmol/L without the application of EDTA
It was observed that increasing level of Cu (50 and 100 μmol/L) in the nutrient solution significantly decreased the total contents of chlorophyll in the leaves of C. capsularis
Summary
Increased concentrations of heavy metals are seriously threatened by soil pollution [1,2,3,4]. Copper (Cu) is an essential plant micronutrient of various heavy metals requiring normal growth and body development [5,6,7,8]. Toxic Cu levels in the plants increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide radical (O− ), H2 O2 , singlet oxygen (1 O2 ) and hydroxyl radicals (OH). Antioxidants such as SOD and POD essential for the scavenge of ROS [21,22,23,24,25]. In order to prevent plant Cu toxicity, it is very important to reduce or reduce the concentration of Cu in soil to an appropriate level
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