Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct 4;19(19):12683.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912683.

Bioremediation of Cadmium Toxicity in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Plants Primed with L-Proline, Bacillus subtilis and Aspergillus niger

Sarmad Bashir  1 , Sadia Javed  1 , Khalid Mashay Al-Anazi  2 , Mohammad Abul Farah  2 , Sajad Ali  3
Affiliations

Bioremediation of Cadmium Toxicity in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Plants Primed with L-Proline, Bacillus subtilis and Aspergillus niger

Sarmad Bashir et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Cadmium toxicity is one of the deleterious abiotic factors that reduce wheat production. Two different cultivars (Akbar and Dilkash) were compared for their cadmium (0, 40 and 80 mg/kg) tolerance and responses towards Bacillus subtilis NA2, Aspergillus niger PMI-118 and L-proline. Both microbes were tested for heavy metal tolerance and production of various plant hormones and biological active enzyme characteristics under normal and cadmium stress. A completely randomized design (two cultivars × four treatments × three cadmium levels × three replicates) was adopted using distilled water as a control. The growth promotion potential of these strains under cadmium stress was determined by N-fixation, IAA synthesis, P-solubilization, amylase and proteases production. A pot experiment under controlled conditions was conducted to evaluate the effect of bacteria, fungi, and L-proline under cadmium stress. It was indicated from the result that plant biomass (46.43%), shoot length (22.40%), root length (25.06%), chlorophyll (17.17%), total sugars (27.07%), total proteins (86.01%) and ascorbic acid (83.27%) were improved with inoculation under control and cadmium stress. The accumulation of total flavonoids (48.64%), total phenolics (24.88%), hydrogen peroxide (53.96%) and activities of antioxidant enzymes CAT (26.37%) and APX (43.71%) were reduced in the plants treated with bacteria, fungi and L-proline than those under control. With parallel aids, Bacillus subtilis NA2 showed a higher cadmium tolerance and plant growth stability as compared to Aspergillus niger PMI-118 and L-proline and may be adopted in the future.

Keywords: abiotic stress; bio-stimulation; cereal crops; heavy metals; microorganisms; plants; soils.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Shoot fresh weight (A) root fresh weight (B) shoot dry weight (C) root dry weight (D) shoot length (E) root length (F) of two cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) treated with Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger and L-proline subjected to the cadmium stress condition (Mean ± S.E.). Here V1 = AKBAR and V2 = DILKASH. The lower-case letters represent the significant difference in data.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chlorophyll a (A) chlorophyll b (B) total chlorophyll (C) chlorophyll a/b (D) carotenoids (E) and anthocyanin (F) contents of two cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) treated with Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger and L-proline subjected to the cadmium stress conditions (Mean ± S.E.). Here V1 = AKBAR and V2 = DILKASH. The lower-case letters represent the significant difference in data.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total flavonoid contents (A) total phenolic contents (B) total soluble sugars (C) total soluble proteins (D) hydrogen peroxide (E) ascorbic acid (F) contents, catalase (G) ascorbate peroxidase (H) activity of two cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) treated with Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger and L-proline subjected to cadmium stress conditions (Mean ± S.E.). Here V1 = AKBAR and V2 = DILKASH. The lower-case letters represent the significant difference in data.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Component plot in the rotated space by the factor analysis of the studied parameters of wheat treated with bacteria, fungi and L-proline under control (0 mg/kg soil) and cadmium containment soil (40, 80 mg/kg soil) conditions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adil M.I., Khan F., Shah M.T.A., Siddiqui B.N. Cost return analysis in wheat production in federally administrated tribal area, pakistan. J. Agric. Res. 2017;55:417–425.
    1. Ahmed M., Khan M.S., Iqbal N. Wheat Production Trend in Pakistan—A Statistical Analysis. J. Agric. Res. 2017;55:115–124.
    1. Rehman A., Jingdong L., Shahzad B., Chandio A.A., Hussain I., Nabi G., Iqbal M.S. Economic perspectives of major field crops of Pakistan: An empirical study. Pac. Sci. Rev. B Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2015;1:145–158. doi: 10.1016/j.psrb.2016.09.002. - DOI
    1. Kang S.-M., Khan A.L., Waqas M., You Y.-H., Kim J.-H., Kim J.-G., Hamayun M., Lee I.-J. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria reduce adverse effects of salinity and osmotic stress by regulating phytohormones and antioxidants in Cucumis sativus. J. Plant Interact. 2014;9:673–682. doi: 10.1080/17429145.2014.894587. - DOI
    1. Wang Z., Solanki M.K., Pang F., Singh R.K., Yang L.-T., Li Y.-R., Li H.-B., Zhu K., Xing Y.-X. Identification and Efficiency of a Nitrogen-fixing Endophytic Actinobacterial Strain from Sugarcane. Sugar Tech. 2016;19:492–500. doi: 10.1007/s12355-016-0498-y. - DOI

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources