Phytotoxicity and Effect of Ionic Liquids on Antioxidant Parameters in Spring Barley Seedlings: The Impact of Exposure Time

Robert Biczak,Jan Szczegielniak,Arkadiusz Telesiński,Wiesław Pilis,Barbara Pawłowska,Jacek Wróbel

doi:10.3390/pr8091175

Abstract

The influence of the ionic liquids (ILs) tetrabutylammonium bromide [TBA][Br], 1-butyl-3-methylimidazole bromide [BMIM][Br], and tetrabutylphosphonium bromide [TBP][Br] added at different concentrations to the soil were studied for the growth and development of spring barley seedlings. Samples were harvested at three different time points: day 7, 14, and 21 after addition of ILs. The results show that [TBP][Br] was the most toxic. The introduction of this IL at the dose of 100 mg kg−1 of soil DM decreased the growth of seedlings at all test dates. The addition of the studied ILs to the soil in higher doses resulted in an increase in peroxidase and catalase activity, which may indicate the occurrence of oxidative stress in plants. An increase in the content of plant dry matter weight, contents of H2O2 and proline and a decrease in the content of photosynthetic pigments in barley seedlings were also observed. The malondialdehyde content and superoxide dismutase activity fluctuated randomly during the experiment. As a result, it was found that the phytotoxicity of ILs and the magnitude of oxidative stress in seedlings depended more on the added doses of these compounds than on the measurement date.

Highlights

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a large group of compounds that have attracted widespread interest.These are ionic compounds and are made of an organic cation and an organic or inorganic anion.These compounds exhibit a number of desirable physicochemical properties such as low vapor pressure, non-flammability, nonvolatility, thermal and electrochemical stability, and good conductivity.by the appropriate selection of cations and anions, compounds with the desired properties can be obtained
The germination potential (GP) and germination rate (GR) of seeds, shoots and root growth inhibition of seedlings, fresh matter yield decrease, dry weight content and EC50 values were determined to assess the phytotoxicity of the examined ionic liquids (ILs)
One of the main problems in agriculture is the presence of various stress factors in the environment

Summary

Introduction

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a large group of compounds that have attracted widespread interest.These are ionic compounds and are made of an organic cation and an organic or inorganic anion.These compounds exhibit a number of desirable physicochemical properties such as low vapor pressure, non-flammability, nonvolatility, thermal and electrochemical stability, and good conductivity.by the appropriate selection of cations and anions, compounds with the desired properties can be obtained. Ionic liquids (ILs) are a large group of compounds that have attracted widespread interest. These are ionic compounds and are made of an organic cation and an organic or inorganic anion. These compounds exhibit a number of desirable physicochemical properties such as low vapor pressure, non-flammability, nonvolatility, thermal and electrochemical stability, and good conductivity. By the appropriate selection of cations and anions, compounds with the desired properties can be obtained. ILs have become known as “designer solvents”. The possibility of different combinations of cations and anions to obtain ILs is estimated at 1018 [1,2]

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Results

Conclusion