Fullerenol regulates oxidative stress and tissue ionic homeostasis in spring wheat to improve net-primary productivity under salt-stress.

Fahad Shafiq, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Arslan Ashraf

Ecotoxicology and environmental safety 2021 Mar 15

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The effects of fullerenol nanopriming (0, 10, 40, 80 and 120 nM concentration) on salt stressed-wheat (0 and 150 mM NaCl) were investigated under natural conditions. Salinity resulted in a shift in wheat growth pattern in the form of LAR (+ 40.9% increase) and RGR (+ 13.4% increase) while decreased NAR (- 31.7%). It also disturbed shoot and root biomass, ion uptake and reduced chlorophyll contents. Despite increase in enzyme activities, higher ROS generation (+ 48.1% O2- anion; and + 62.2% H2O2) and lipid peroxidation (+ 40.8% MDA) were detected in salt-stressed wheat plants. Possibly, the increases in enzyme activities were not up to the level to completely counteract the salinity induced oxidative stress. Nanopriming with fullerenol improved NAR (+ 8.77% to 23.2%), ROS metabolism and decreased indicators of oxidative stress. Hydropriming treatment also promoted NAR recovery by 21.9% than control plants. Compared to Na+ ions, improvements in shoot relative concentrations of K+, Ca2+ and P also recorded along with soluble sugars and amino acids, which improved osmotic balance. These biochemical modifications contributed to improvements in grain yield attributes (+11.8% to 18.3% in 100 grain-weight) than salinity stressed control. Hydropriming also contributed to a recovery in grain yield attributes by 12.6%. Above all, the harvested seeds from fullerenol treated plants also showed better germination and seedlings growth traits. Conclusively, we report non-toxic, growth-promoting effects of fullerenol nanoparticles on wheat crop and as a way forward; we suggest its exogenous application to recover crop productivity under saline environments. Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Fahad Shafiq, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Arslan Ashraf. Fullerenol regulates oxidative stress and tissue ionic homeostasis in spring wheat to improve net-primary productivity under salt-stress. Ecotoxicology and environmental safety. 2021 Mar 15;211:111901