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Tolerance Indices, Germination and Transfer Efficiency of Seed Reserves in Foxtail Millet Seedlings (Setaria italica L.) as Affected by Cadmium and Polyvinyl Chloride Stresses
Summary
A factorial experiment examined the combined effects of cadmium stress and PVC microplastic particles at multiple concentrations on germination and early seedling development in foxtail millet. While both pollutants individually decreased most germination indices, certain low concentrations of PVC combined with high cadmium showed moderate buffering effects, reducing cadmium toxicity by up to 52% for germination percentage, revealing complex interactive dynamics between microplastics and heavy metals in plant systems.
Recently, with the rapid growth of industry and agriculture, the contamination of agricultural soils with the cadmium (Cd) and microplastic particles has become a serious issue.Simultaneous presence of microplastics and Cd in soil can cause various biological effects, especially in the early stages of plant growth.In this research, the effect of Cd stress in the presence of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastic particles was investigated in the early stages of the growth of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L., cv.Bastan).The experiment was arranged in a factorial according to the completely randomized design with three replicates based on five concentrations of Cd (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 M) and PVC microplastic (0, 1, 2, 4, and 6%).The studied traits included percentage and inhibition of germination, rate and mean germination time, seedling vigor index, weight of mobilized seed reserve, seed reserve utilization efficiency, seed reserve depletion percentage, relative seed germination, seedling toxicity level, germination tolerance index and root tolerance index.The results showed that both pollutants led to the decrease of most germination indices, however, certain concentrations of PVC with Cd stress improved the desired indices.So that germination percentage and seed reserve utilization efficiency in 200 M Cd concentration with 1% of PVC increased by 43.2 and 206%, respectively, compared to the concentration of 200 M Cd alone.The highest inhibition of germination percentage belonged to 200 M Cd concentration, which was reduced by 52.4% with the application of 1% microplastic.Although PVC microplastic particles had adverse effects on the germination process of foxtail millet seeds, but in the presence of Cd in the soil, low concentrations of PVC can have some moderating effects on Cd toxicity.