Synergistic Effects of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Bacteria Reduce Heavy Metals Toxicity in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Plant
Nazneen Akhtara b, Sehresh Khana b, Shafiq Ur Rehmanc, Zia Ur Rehmana b, Amana Khatoonb d, Eui Shik Rhae✉, Muhammad Abdullah Jamila b✉
- aDepartment of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science &
- bTechnology (KUST), Kohat 26000, Pakistan
- cDepartment of Biology, University of Haripur, Haripur 22620, Pakistan
- dDepartment of Environmental and Botanical Sciences, Kohat University of Science &
- eDepartment of Well-Being Resources, Sunchon National University, Suncheon 540-742, Korea
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
Heavy metals (HMs) are toxic elements which contaminate the water bodies in developing countries because of their excessive discharge from industrial zones. Rice (Oryza sativa L) crops are submerged for a longer period of time in water, so irrigation with HMs polluted water possesses toxic effects on plant growth. This study was initiated to observe the synergistic effect of bacteria (Bacillus cereus and Lysinibacillus macroides) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 mg/L) on the rice that were grown in HMs contaminated water. Current findings have revealed that bacteria, along with ZnO NPs at lower concentration, showed maximum removal of HMs from polluted water at pH 8 (90 min) as compared with higher concentrations. Seeds primed with bacteria grown in HM polluted water containing ZnO NPs (5 mg/L) showed reduced uptake of HMs in root, shoot and leaf, thus resulting in increased plant growth. Furthermore, their combined effects also reduced the bioaccumulation index and metallothionine (MTs) content and enhanced the tolerance index of plants. This study suggested that synergistic treatment of bacteria with lower concentrations of ZnO NPs helped plants to reduce heavy metal toxicity, especially Pb and Cu, and enhanced plant growth.
TL;DRIt is suggested that synergistic treatment of bacteria with lower concentrations of ZnO NPs helped plants to reduce heavy metal toxicity, especially Pb and Cu, and enhanced plant growth. (Semantic Scholar)