Alsamadany Hameed, Alharby Hesham F, Al-Zahrani Hassan S, Alzahrani Yahya M, Almaghamsi Afaf A, Abbas Ghulam, Farooq Muhammad Ansar
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Front Plant Sci. 2022 Oct 10;13:989504. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.989504. eCollection 2022.
The increasing contamination of soil with arsenic (As), and salinity has become a menace to food security and human health. The current study investigates the comparative efficacy of plain biochar (BC), and silicon-nanoparticles doped biochar (SBC) for ameliorating the As and salinity-induced phytotoxicity in quinoa ( Willd.) and associated human health risks. Quinoa was grown on normal and saline soils (EC 12.4 dS m) contaminated with As (0, 20 mg kg) and supplemented with 1% of BC or SBC. The results demonstrated that plant growth, grain yield, chlorophyll contents, and stomatal conductance of quinoa were decreased by 62, 44, 48, and 66%, respectively under the blended stress of As and salinity as compared to control. Contrary to this, the addition of BC to As-contaminated saline soil caused a 31 and 25% increase in plant biomass and grain yield. However, these attributes were increased by 45 and 38% with the addition of SBC. The HO and TBARS contents were enhanced by 5 and 10-fold, respectively under the combined stress of As and salinity. The SBC proved to be more efficient than BC in decreasing oxidative stress through overexpressing of antioxidant enzymes. The activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase were enhanced by 5.4, 4.6, and 11-fold with the addition of SBC in As-contaminated saline soil. Contamination of grains by As revealed both the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks to human health, however, these effects were minimized with the addition of SBC. As accumulation in grains was decreased by 65-fold and 25-fold, respectively for BC and SBC in addition to As-contaminated saline soil. The addition of SBC to saline soils contaminated with As for quinoa cultivation is an effective approach for decreasing the food chain contamination and improving food security. However, more research is warranted for the field evaluation of the effectiveness of SBC in abating As uptake in other food crops cultivated on As polluted normal and salt-affected soils.
土壤中砷（As）污染的日益加剧以及盐碱化已对粮食安全和人类健康构成威胁。本研究调查了普通生物炭（BC）和硅纳米颗粒掺杂生物炭（SBC）在减轻藜麦（Willd.）中砷和盐碱化诱导的植物毒性以及相关人类健康风险方面的比较效果。藜麦种植在受砷（0、20 mg/kg）污染的正常土壤和盐碱土壤（电导率12.4 dS/m）上，并添加1%的BC或SBC。结果表明，与对照相比，在砷和盐碱化的复合胁迫下，藜麦的植株生长、籽粒产量、叶绿素含量和气孔导度分别下降了62%、44%、48%和66%。与此相反，在受砷污染的盐碱土壤中添加BC使植物生物量和籽粒产量分别增加了31%和25%。然而，添加SBC后，这些指标分别增加了45%和38%。在砷和盐碱化的复合胁迫下，过氧化氢（HO）和丙二醛（TBARS）含量分别提高了5倍和10倍。通过过表达抗氧化酶，SBC在降低氧化应激方面比BC更有效。在受砷污染的盐碱土壤中添加SBC后，超氧化物歧化酶、过氧化物酶和过氧化氢酶的活性分别提高了5.4倍、4.6倍和11倍。砷对谷物的污染揭示了对人类健康的非致癌和致癌风险，然而，添加SBC可将这些影响降至最低。除了受砷污染的盐碱土壤外，添加BC和SBC后，谷物中砷的积累分别减少了65倍和25倍。在受砷污染的盐碱土壤中添加SBC用于藜麦种植是减少食物链污染和改善粮食安全的有效方法。然而，对于SBC在减少砷污染的正常土壤和盐渍化土壤上种植的其他粮食作物中砷吸收的有效性进行田间评估，还需要更多的研究。
