Supplemental activated biochar pellet fertilizers (ABPFs) were evaluated as a method to sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and improve rice production. The evaluated treatments were a control (standard cultivation method, no additives applied), activated rice hull biochar pellets with 40% of N (ARHBP-40%), and activated palm biochar pellets with 40% of N (APBP-40%). The N supplied by the ARHBP-40% and APBP-40% treatments reduced the need for supplemental inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer by 60 percent. The ARHBP-40% treatment sequestered as much as 1.23 tonne ha⁻¹ compared to 0.89 tonne ha⁻¹ in the control during the rice-growing season. In terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, CH₄ emissions were not significantly different (p > 0.05) between the control and the ARHBP-40%, while the lowest N₂O emissions (0.002 kg ha⁻¹) were observed in the ARHBP-40% during the crop season. Additionally, GHG (CO₂-equiv.) emissions from the ARHBP-40% application were reduced by 10 kg ha⁻¹ compared to the control. Plant height in the control was relatively high compared to others, but grain yield was not significantly different among the treatments. The application of the ARHBP-40% can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon sequestration in crop fields, and ABPFs can increase N use efficiency and contribute to sustainable agriculture.

Being signaling molecules, nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) can mediate a wide range of physiological processes caused by plant metal toxicity. Moreover, legume-rhizobium symbiosis has gained increasing attention in mitigating heavy metal stress. However, systematic regulatory mechanisms used for the exogenous application of signaling molecules to alter the resistance of legume-rhizobium symbiosis under metal stress are currently unknown. In this study, we examined the exogenous effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as an NO donor additive and sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) as a H₂S donor additive on the phytotoxicity and soil quality of alfalfa (Medicago sativa)-rhizobium symbiosis in lead/cadmium (Pb/Cd)-contaminated soils. Results showed that rhizobia inoculation markedly promoted alfalfa growth by increasing chlorophyll content, fresh weight, and plant height and biomass. Compared to the inoculated rhizobia treatment alone, the addition of NO and H₂S significantly reduced the bioaccumulation of Pb and Cd in alfalfa-rhizobium symbiosis, respectively, thus avoiding the phytotoxicity caused by the excessive presence of metals. The addition of signaling molecules also alleviated metal-induced phytotoxicity by increasing antioxidant enzyme activity and inhibiting the level of lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in legume-rhizobium symbiosis. Also, signaling molecules improved soil nutrient cycling, increased soil enzyme activities, and promoted rhizosphere bacterial community diversity. Both partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) and variation partitioning analysis (VPA) identified that using signaling molecules can improve plant growth by regulating major controlling variables (i.e., soil enzymes, soil nutrients, and microbial diversity/plant oxidative damage) in legume-rhizobium symbiosis. This study offers integrated insight that confirms that the exogenous application of signaling molecules can enhance the resistance of legume-rhizobium symbiosis under metal toxicity by regulating the biochemical response of the plant-soil system, thereby minimizing potential health risks.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of three C4 perennial grasses (Miscanthus x giganteus, Panicum virgatum and Spartina pectinata) for biomass production on arable land unsuitable for food crop cultivation due to Pb, Cd and Zn contamination. We assessed soil properties, biomass yield, metal concentrations, and the photosynthetic performance of each species. Physico-chemical and elemental analyses were performed on soil samples before plantation establishment (2014) and after three years of cultivation (2016), when leaf area index, plant height, yield and heavy metal content of biomass were also determined. Physiological measurements (gas exchange, pigment content, chlorophyll a fluorescence) were recorded monthly between June and September on mature plants in 2016. Cultivation of investigated plants resulted in increased pH, nitrogen, and organic matter (OM) content in soil, although OM increase (13%) was significant only for S. pectinata plots. During the most productive months, maximal quantum yield values of primary photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and gas exchange parameter values reflected literature data of those plants grown on uncontaminated sites. Biomass yields of M. x giganteus (15.0 ± 0.4 t d.m. ha−1) and S. pectinata (12.6 ± 1.2 t d.m. ha−1) were also equivalent to data published from uncontaminated land. P. virgatum performed poorly (4.1 ± 0.4 t d.m. ha−1), probably due to unfavourable climatic conditions, although metal uptake in this species was the highest (3.6 times that of M. x giganteus for Pb). Yield and physiological measurements indicated that M. x giganteus and S. pectinata were unaffected by the levels of contamination and therefore offer alternatives for areas where food production is prohibited. The broad cultivatable latitudinal range of these species suggests these results are widely relevant for development of the bioeconomy. We recommend multi-location trials under diverse contaminant and environmental regimes to determine the full potential of these species.

Multiple sources of microplastics (MPs) in farmland could result in the changing of microbial community and the plant growth. Most studies of MPs in agricultural system have focused on the effects of single types of MPs on growth of plants, while neglect interactions between multiple types of MPs. In this study a pot-experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of multiple types of MPs, including polystyrene beads: M1, 5 μm, M2, 70 nm and degradable mulching film (DMF) fragments on growth of wheat seedlings and associated rhizosphere microbial community. CKD (adding DMF) significantly reduced plant height and base diameter of wheat seedlings. DMF in combination with M2, significantly increased plant height and aboveground biomass, but decreased the base diameter. Actinobacteria was the dominant taxa in the rhizosphere bacterial community in various treatments. PCoA analysis showed that the bacterial composition in M2HD (100 mg kg⁻¹ M² with DMF) was significantly different from that of CKD and M2LD (10 mg kg⁻¹ M² with DMF). At the level of genera, the dominant fungi in CKD and M2LD were in the genus Fusarium, which is the cause of wheat fusarium blight and Alternaria, which results in decreased base diameter. In CK (control group) and M2HD, Blastobotrys exhibited the greatest abundance, which assisted wheat seedlings in resisting Verticillium disease. Cluster and PCoA analysis showed the fungal composition in CKD was significantly different from CK, M2LD and M2HD. These findings suggest MPs potentially have selective effects on pathogens that affect growth of plants and potentially safety of the food.

Fluoride (F) is an emerging pollutant that originates from multiple sources and adversely affects plant growth and nutrient bioavailability in soil. This greenhouse study investigated the effects of soil F (0, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 mg kg⁻¹) on morpho-physiological growth characteristics of wheat, soil F contents, and bioavailability and uptake of F, phosphorus (P), sulphur (S), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), aluminium (Al), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), silicon (Si) and zinc (Zn) by wheat. Higher F significantly reduced plant height and number of leaves particularly at early growth stages and increased visible leaf injury index. Powdery mildew infestation coincided with leafy injury and was higher in elevated soil F treatments. Fluoride treatments (>50 mg kg⁻¹) significantly increased water (H₂O)- and calcium chloride (CaCl₂)-extractable F contents in soil. Water-extractable soil F contents from soil in all concentration were higher than CaCl₂-extractable F. This increased F bioavailability resulted in significantly higher F uptake and accumulation in live leaves, dead leaves and grains of wheat which followed order: live leaves > dead leaves > grains. Leaf injury index and number of dead leaves correlated significantly positively with soil H₂O- and CaCl₂-extractable F contents. Patterns of nutrient (P, K, S) and trace metals (Al, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Si, Zn) varied significantly with F concentrations and between live and dead leaves, and grains except for Zn. Dead leaves generally had higher nutrients and trace metals than live leaves and grains. Fluoride contents in live leaves, dead leaves and grains showed positive correlations with nutrient elements but negative with trace metals. Number of dead leaves correlated negatively with Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, S and Si but positively with P and Zn contents in dead leaves whereas leaf injury index showed positive correlation with Fe, K, P, Si, Zn, S but negative with Al, Ca and Mg contents. These observations provided evidence of higher F uptake and associated impairment in nutrient and trace metal accumulation which caused leaf injury accompanied by powdery mildew infestation in wheat. However, further research in the region is required to confirm the relationship between F pollution, leaf injury and trace metal accumulation in crops under field conditions.

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmentally polluted toxic heavy metal and seriously risks food safety and human health through food chain. Mining genetic potentials of plants is a crucial step for limiting Cd accumulation in rice crops and improving environmental quality. This study characterized a novel locus in rice genome encoding a Cd-binding protein named OsHIPP16, which resides in the nucleus and near plasma membrane. OsHIPP16 was strongly induced by Cd stress. Histochemical analysis with pHIPP16::GUS reveals that OsHIPP16 is primarily expressed in root and leaf vascular tissues. Expression of OsHIPP16 in the yeast mutant strain ycf1 sensitive to Cd conferred cellular tolerance. Transgenic rice overexpressing OsHIPP16 (OE) improved rice growth with increased plant height, biomass, and chlorophyll content but with a lower degree of oxidative injury and Cd accumulation, whereas knocking out OsHIPP16 by CRISPR-Cas9 compromised the growth and physiological response. A lifelong trial with Cd-polluted soil shows that the OE plants accumulated much less Cd, particularly in brown rice where the Cd concentrations declined by 11.76–34.64%. Conversely, the knockout oshipp16 mutants had higher levels of Cd with the concentration in leaves being increased by 26.36–35.23% over the wild-type. These results suggest that adequate expression of OsHIPP16 would profoundly contribute to Cd detoxification by regulating Cd accumulation in rice, suggesting that both OE and oshipp16 mutant plants have great potentials for restricting Cd acquisition in the rice crop and phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated wetland soils.

Plastic residues have become a serious environmental problem in areas where agricultural plastic film are used intensively. Although numerous of studies have been done to assess its impacts on soil quality and crop yields, the understanding of meso-plastic particles effects on plant is still limited. In this study, low density polyethylene (PE) and biodegradable plastic (Bio) mulch film were selected to study the effects of meso-plastic debris on soybean germination and plant growth with the accumulation levels of 0%, 0.1%, 0.5% and 1% in soil (w: w, size ranging 0.5–2 cm) by a pot experiment under field condition. Results showed that the germination viability of soybean seeds was reduced to 82.39%, 39.44% and 26.06% in the treatments with 0.1%, 0.5% and 1% added plastic debris compared to the control (CK), respectively, suggesting that plastic residues in soil inhibit the viability of soybean seed germination. The plastic debris had a significant negative effect on plant height and culm diameter during the entire growth stage of soybean. Similarly, the leaf area at harvest was reduced by 1.97%, 6.86% and 11.53% compared to the CK in the treatments with 0.1%, 0.5% and 1% plastic debris addition, respectively. In addition, the total plant biomass under plastic addition was reduced in both the flowering and harvesting stages, compared to the CK. For the different type of plastic residues, plant height, leaf area and root/shoot ratio at group PE were significantly lower than those of groups treated by Bio. In conclusion, PE debris had a greater negative effects on plant height, culm diameter, leaf area and root/shoot ratio while Bio debris mainly showed the adverse effects on germination viability and root biomass especially at the flowering stage. Therefore, further research is required to elaborate plastic particles’ effects on different stages of crops and soil quality.

This study evaluated the chronic toxicity (30 days) of different sizes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics (60–3000 μm) provided alone or in combination with acid rain, on garden cress (Lepidium sativum). Both biometrical and physiological traits have been evaluated: i) percentage inhibition of seed germination, plant height, leaf number and fresh biomass production; ii) oxidative stress responses (hydrogen peroxide; ascorbic acid and glutathione production); iii) impairment in photosynthetic machinery in term of pigments production; iv) aminolevulinic acid and proline production. Results highlighted that different sizes of PET, alone or in combination with acid rain, are able to negatively affect both biometrical and physiological plant traits. In particular, the lower size of microplastics is able to negatively affect growth and development, as well as to trigger the oxidative burst. Regarding the pigments production, PET coupled with acid rain, induced a higher production of Chl-b, and an inhibition of aminolevulinic acid.

In recent years, the scale of shrimp ponds has rapidly increased adjacent to mangrove forests. Discharge of shrimp pond effluent has led to degradation of the surrounding environment and reduction of biodiversity in the estuary. But it remains poorly understood how shrimp pond effluent affects functional traits and functional diversity of mangroves. We sampled roots, stems and leaves of Kandelia obovata and other mangrove plants, as well as sediments and pore water from shrimp pond effluent polluted area (P) and clean area (control area, C) in Zhangjiang Estuary in southeast coast of China. Twenty plant functional traits and six functional diversity indices were analyzed to explore the effects of shrimp pond effluent on individual plants and mangrove communities. The results showed that the discharge of shrimp pond effluent significantly affected the nutrient content in soils and pore water, for example, sediment NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ concentration increased from 0.26 ± 0.06 to 0.77 ± 0.29 mg/g and from 0.05 ± 0.03 to 0.16 ± 0.05 mg/g, respectively, when comparing the C and P site. Furthermore, some mangrove plant functional traits such as plant height, diameter at breast height, canopy thickness and specific leaf area were significantly increased by the effluent discharge. Functional diversity in the polluted area reduced as a whole compared to the control area. In particular, ammonium and nitrate nitrogen input is the main reason to induce the changes of plant functional traits and functional diversity. Besides, the community structure changed from functional differentiation to functional convergence after shrimp pond effluent discharge. In addition, the long-term shrimp pond effluent discharge may lead to the ecological strategy shift of K. obovata, while different organs may adopt different ways of nutrient uptake and growth strategies in the face of effluent disturbance. In conclusion, pollution from shrimp pond does affect the functional traits of mangrove plants and functional diversity of mangrove community. These results provide strong evidence to assess the impact of effluent discharges on mangrove plants and provide theoretical basis for conservation and sustainable development of mangroves.

The effects of maifanite on the physiological and phytochemical process of submerged macrophytes Hydrilla verticillate (H.verticillata) were investigated for the first time in the study. The growth index: plant biomass, root length, plant height and leaf spacing, and physiological and phytochemical indexes: chlorophyll, soluble protein, malondialdehyde (MDA), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) content and vitality of the roots of H.verticillata were tested. The results found that maifanite can significantly promote the growth of H.verticillata. The modified maifanite were more conducive to plant growth compared with the raw maifanite, and the MM1 group had the best growth promoting effect. The physiological and phytochemical indexes showed that maifanite can delay the aging process of H.verticillata (P < 0.05). The possible reasons for promoting H.verticillata growth were that maifanite can provide excellent propagation conditions for plant rhizosphere microorganisms, contains abundant major and microelements, and improve the sediment microenvironment. This study may provide a technique for the further application of maifanite in the field of ecological restoration.