Regulation of insecticide toxicity by kinetin in two paddy field cyanobacteria: Physiological and biochemical assessment

The imprudent agricultural practices are leading to an increasing load of pesticides in agricultural fields. Thus, there is a need to minimize the harmful effect of pesticides by adopting sustainable strategies. In the recent past decade, kinetin, a plant synthetic hormone, has been reported as a pesticide toxicity alleviator in higher plants. But its role in mitigating pesticide toxicity in cyanobacteria is still limited. Thus, in current study an attempt has been made to investigate the potential of kinetin in regulating cypermethrin, an insecticide, induced toxicity in Anabaena PCC 7120 and Nostoc muscorum ATCC 27893. Cypermethrin (Cyp₁; 2 μg ml⁻¹ and Cyp₂; 4 μg ml⁻¹) showed negative impact on growth, photosynthetic pigments, photosynthetic O₂-evolution and primary photochemistry of PS II (Phi_P₀, Psi_₀, Phi_E₀) resulting in decrease in performance index (PIABS). However, under similar conditions, increases in energy flux parameters (ABS/RC, TR₀/RC, ET₀/RC and DI₀/RC) were noticed. Cypermethrin at both the doses enhanced the level of oxidative stress biomarkers (SOR, H₂O₂, and MDA equivalent contents) despite of increased antioxidant enzymatic activity (SOD, POD, CAT and GST).Under similar condition, cypermethrin at tested doses caused substantial decrease in non-enzymatic antioxidant contents (proline, cysteine and NP-SH). Nevertheless, kinetin treatment attenuated cypermethrin induced oxidative stress by further up-regulating the activity of enzymatic antioxidants and by enhancing the contents of non-enzymatic antioxidants. Thus, with the application of kinetin improved photochemistry of PS II and growth yield of both the cyanobacteria were observed even in the presence of cypermethrin. Current results establish that cypermethrin induces toxicity on photosynthesis, photosynthetic pigments and growth, and this effect was more pronounced in Anabaena PCC 7120 than Nostoc muscorum ATCC 27893. Furthermore, the potential role of kinetin in mitigating the toxicity of cypermethrin in both the cyanobacteria provides an insight to be used in paddy fields for sustainable agricultural practices.