Overcoming limitation of “recalcitrant areas” to phytoextraction process: The synergistic effects of exogenous cytokinins and nitrogen treatments

The aim of the present work was to test the efficiency of the phytoextraction process involving the use of exogenous phytohormone (cytokinins, CKs) and fertilizer (nitrogen, N) treatments in phytotechnologies to address risk management in “recalcitrant areas”. The CKs and N treatments, alone or combined (CKs + N) in a Modulated Application (MA), were tested on the crop plant Helianthus annuus, common to Mediterranean area, fast growing and with high biomass production. Plants were grown on boron (B) contaminated sediments (collected from a geothermal area located in Tuscany (Italy). Plant growth, B uptake, together with plant stress parameters were investigated. Boron is easily taken up and translocated by some crop plants, but the high phytotoxicity can dramatically impact the plant growth and consequently the applicability and efficiency of the phytoextraction process. As indicators of plant stress, oxidative balance and photosynthetic parameters were investigated to give a deeper insight of phytotoxic mechanisms. Results showed that while each treatment (CKs and N alone) had significantly positive effects on plant health, the MA treatment provided a synergistic effect on morphological parameters and biomass production as a whole. After MA treatment, plants showed antioxidant activity comparable to that of the control (unpolluted sediments) and showed an increase of net photosynthesis. Moreover, our data showed very high values of B uptake and translocation (about 800 mg kg⁻¹ in shoots), without any alteration triggered by the treatments (CKs and N alone or combined in MA). B phytoextraction resulted increased about fivefold with the MA treatments, while each treatment alone increased only two or three folds when treated with either CKs or N. The MA treatment is not “contaminant specific”, so it could be applied in other “recalcitrant areas” where different types of contaminations occur, in order to overcome limitations of plant growth.