Osman Hany S, Gao Yan, Luo Zhicheng, Alharbi Khadiga, Rashwan Emadeldeen, Omara Alaa El-Dein, Hafez Emad M
Department of Agricultural Botany, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Hadayek Shubra, 11241 Cairo, Egypt.
Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment downstream of Yangze Plain, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing 210014, China; Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2025 Jun 15;981:179585. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179585. Epub 2025 May 5.
Dealing with abiotic stress is a challenge to maintaining sustainable agricultural productivity, especially for the dual stress of soil salinity and heavy metal contamination. A field experiment was conducted in a completely randomized factorial design to assess the combined effects of biochar (BC), plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM), and seaweed extract (SWE) in mitigating cadmium (Cd) toxicity while promoting cotton growth in saline soils. The study included eight treatments: control (CK), single applications of SWE, PGPM, or BC, dual applications of BC + SWE, BC + PGPM, and PGPM + SWE, and a triple application (BC + PGPM + SWE). Results showed that the BC + PGPM + SWE treatment significantly improved soil quality by reducing the Na and Cd bioavailability by 31 % and 34 %, respectively, while enhancing soil organic matter, microbial biomass carbon, and soil enzymatic activity. Antioxidant defense mechanisms in cotton leaves were significantly induced, as indicated by enhanced activity of SOD, APX, DHAR and GR from 1.8-folds in SOD to 3.4-folds the control in GR. Multivariate analysis revealed that enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants of the ascorbate-glutathione cycle seemed to play a key role in oxidative stress mitigation with maintenance of redox homeostasis and chelation of Cd, resulting in a reduction of 18 % and 56 % in Cd translocation factors from root to shoot, and from shoot to bolls, which contributing to a 65 % increase in cotton seed yield. This study demonstrates an integrative approach to enhancing the resilience of the soil and its productivity, thereby offering a scaling-up, eco-friendly strategy toward sustainable agriculture in degraded and stress-prone ecosystems.
应对非生物胁迫是维持农业可持续生产力面临的一项挑战，尤其是对于土壤盐碱化和重金属污染这两种双重胁迫而言。开展了一项田间试验，采用完全随机析因设计，以评估生物炭（BC）、植物促生微生物（PGPM）和海藻提取物（SWE）在减轻镉（Cd）毒性的同时促进盐碱土壤中棉花生长的综合效果。该研究包括八种处理：对照（CK）、单独施用SWE、PGPM或BC、BC + SWE、BC + PGPM和PGPM + SWE的双重施用，以及（BC + PGPM + SWE）的三重施用。结果表明，BC + PGPM + SWE处理显著改善了土壤质量，分别将钠和镉的生物有效性降低了31%和34%，同时提高了土壤有机质、微生物生物量碳和土壤酶活性。棉花叶片中的抗氧化防御机制被显著诱导，超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶（APX）、脱氢抗坏血酸还原酶（DHAR）和谷胱甘肽还原酶（GR）的活性增强，从SOD的1.8倍到GR的3.4倍对照。多变量分析表明，抗坏血酸-谷胱甘肽循环的酶促和非酶促抗氧化剂似乎在减轻氧化应激、维持氧化还原稳态和镉螯合方面发挥关键作用，导致从根到茎以及从茎到棉铃的镉转运因子分别降低了18%和56%，这使得棉花籽产量提高了65%。本研究展示了一种增强土壤恢复力及其生产力的综合方法，从而为退化和易受胁迫的生态系统中的可持续农业提供了一种可扩大规模的、生态友好型策略。
