Inoculation Alleviates Cd and Pb-Induced Toxicity and Improves Growth and Physiology of (L.).

Heavy metals (HMs) pose a serious threat to agricultural productivity. Therefore, there is a need to find sustainable approaches to combat HM stressors in agriculture. In this study, we isolated sp. TF-13 from metal-polluted rhizospheric soil, which has the ability to resist 1600 and 1200 μg mL cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), respectively. Owing to its remarkable metal tolerance, this fungal strain was applied for bioremediation of HMs in (L.). Strain TF-13 produced siderophore, salicylic acid (SA; 43.4 μg mL) and 2,3-DHBA (21.0 μg mL), indole-3-acetic acid, ammonia, and ACC deaminase under HM stressed conditions. Increasing concentrations of tested HM ions caused severe reduction in overall growth of plants; however, sp. TF-13 inoculation significantly ( ≤ 0.05) increased the growth and physiological traits of HM-treated . Interestingly, sp. TF-13 improved germination rate (10%), root length (26%), root biomass (32%), and vigor index (12%) of grown under 25 μg Cd kg soil. Additionally, inoculation showed a significant ( ≤ 0.05) increase in total chlorophyll, chl a, chl b, carotenoid content, root nitrogen (N), and root phosphorus (P) of 100 μg Cd kg soil-treated plants over uninoculated treatment. Furthermore, enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant activities of inoculated in metal-treated plants were improved. For instance, strain TF-13 increased proline (37%), lipid peroxidation (56%), catalase (35%), peroxidase (42%), superoxide dismutase (27%), and glutathione reductase (39%) activities in 100 μg Pb kg soil-treated plants. The uptake of Pb and Cd in root/shoot tissues was decreased by 34/39 and 47/38% in fungal-inoculated and 25 μg kg soil-treated plants. Thus, this study demonstrates that stabilizing metal mobility in the rhizosphere through inoculation significantly reduced the detrimental effects of Cd and Pb toxicity in and also enhanced development under HM stress conditions.