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Enhancing maize resilience to microplastics and cadmium through nanoparticles intervention
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Microplastics and cadmium (a toxic heavy metal) in soil can stunt corn plant growth and stress the plants at a cellular level, which matters because contaminated crops can pass these pollutants up the food chain to people. Researchers found that adding titanium dioxide nanoparticles to the soil helped corn seedlings grow better and absorb less cadmium, suggesting a possible way to make food crops more resilient in polluted farmland. This is early-stage research done on seedlings, so more testing is needed before this approach could be used on real farms.
Microplastic (MPs) and heavy metals (HMs) pollution present significant ecological and environmental threats due to their widespread production and release into natural ecosystems. This study aimed to investigate the individual effects of polyvinyl chloride microplastics (PVC-MPs) and cadmium (Cd) on various aspects of plant growth, as well as the potential ameliorative role of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) in mitigating their adverse impacts. The experiment involved exposing maize seedlings to different concentrations of PVC-MPs (0, 2, and 4 mg L −1 ) and Cd (0, 50, and 100 mg kg −1 ), along with varying levels of TiO 2 NPs (50 µg mL −1 ). Our findings showed that Cd toxicity in the soil significantly reduced growth, gas exchange properties, sugar content, ascorbate-glutathione (ASA-GSH) cycle activity, cellular composition, and proline metabolism in maize. In contrast, Cd contaminating greatly boosted oxidative stress indicators, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and gene expression in maize. Stimulatingly, the use of TiO 2 NPs caused in a significant development in growth of plant, plant biomass, gas exchange parameters, enzymatic antioxidants and non-enzymatic antioxidant activity, and gene expressions of antioxidants enzymes, lowering oxidative stress (MDA and H 2 O 2 ) and Cd absorption in maize plants. Furthermore, TiO 2 NPs increased cellular fractionation (cellulose and hemicellulose), altering proline metabolism and ASA-GSH cycle activity in maize plants. Overall, this work emphasizes the intricate interactions between MPs and Cd, and nanoparticles in plant systems, highlighting TiO 2 NPs as a possible strategy for increasing plant flexibility and minimizing the negative effects of environmental pollutants. These findings have crucial implications regarding the development of long-term agricultural management approaches in polluted areas.
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