Abstract
Lead–zinc (Pb–Zn) mine tailings pose a great risk to the natural environment and human health because of their high toxicity. In this study, the responses of photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and antioxidative enzyme of Melia azedarach and Ligustrum lucidum in the soil contaminated by Pb–Zn mine tailings were investigated. Results showed that Pb–Zn mine tailings significantly reduced net photosynthetic rates and leaf photosynthetic pigment content of both trees, and the reduction of net photosynthetic rates was mainly caused by their biochemical limitation (BL). The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters from Pb–Zn tailing stressed leaves indicated that Pb–Zn tailings affected PSII activity which was evident from the change values of energy fluxes per reaction center (RC): probability that an electron moves further than QA− (ETO/TRO), maximum quantum yield for primary photochemistry (TRO/ABS), the density of PSII RC per excited cross-section (RC/CSO), the absorption of antenna chlorophylls per PSII RC (ABS/RC), and the turnover number of QA reduction events (N). Pb–Zn mine tailings also affected the oxidation and reduction of PSI, which resulted in a great increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents and then stimulated the rate of lipid peroxidation. Both trees exhibited certain antioxidative defense mechanisms as elevated superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities, then declined under high level of Pb–Zn tailing treatment. Comparatively, L. lucidum showed less extent effect on photosynthesis and higher antioxidative enzyme activities than M. azedarach; thus L. lucidum was more tolerant than M. azedarach at least under the described Pb–Zn tailing treatment. These results indicate that the effect of Pb–Zn mine tailings on photosynthesis performance mainly related to imbalance of the PSII activity and PSI redox state in both trees. We propose that M. azedarach and L. lucidum could relieve the oxidative stress for phytoremediation under the appropriate Pb–Zn mine tailing content.
Highlights
Plants require certain heavy metals (HMs) as essential elements for their growth, development, and yield production, but excess amount of these metals can become phytotoxic and cause adverse effects on plant biomass production, crop yield, and food safety (Pierattini et al, 2017)
As Pb–Zn tailing portions increased, Relative Growth Rate (RGR) of M. azedarach and L. lucidum was decreased progressively compared with the control group (P < 0.05) (Table 2), the RGR values were reduced by 10–90% and 6–70% in M. azedarach and L. lucidum, respectively, in Pb–Zn treatments when compared with the C plants (Table 2)
The concentrations of Pb and Zn in the leaves, stems, and roots increased with the increase of the proportion of Pb–Zn tailings in both tested plants compared to the C (Table 2)
Summary
Plants require certain heavy metals (HMs) as essential elements for their growth, development, and yield production, but excess amount of these metals can become phytotoxic and cause adverse effects on plant biomass production, crop yield, and food safety (Pierattini et al, 2017). Mining activities generated a large amount of mine tailings in the mining sites where high concentrations of Pb, Zn, and other HMs were detected in local environments, which caused a wide range of environmental problems (Han et al, 2013). The limitation in tree growth might be associated with photosynthesis which was sensitive to HM stress (Ç içek et al, 2017; Zhong et al, 2018; Huang et al, 2019; Liang et al, 2019). A number of studies reported that HMs exhibited less effect of photosynthetic rate, electron transport, conversion of light energy, and photochemical efficiency in tolerant plant species than those in sensitive ones (Guo et al, 2018; Sorrentino et al, 2018; Huang et al, 2019)
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