Assessment of phytoremediation capacity of three halophytes: Suaeda monoica, Tamarix indica and Cressa critica

Abstract

Halophyte is a distinctive group of plants that can survive, even well flourish, at a concentration of Na + and Cl − ions along with heavy metals that would be lethal to most of the agricultural crop species. These capabilities make certain halophytes good contenders for phytoremediation through phytoextraction or phytostabilization of the salt and heavy metals (HMs) in polluted soils. Thus, the present study elucidates the phytoextraction capacity of three halophytes (Suaeda monoica, Tamarix indica and Cressa critica) growing in saline soil (EC 112 ds m −1), with higher level of HMs rather than a cultivated soil. The accumulation of ions in above-ground tissue was determined in the all three studied plants, considering the fact that maintaining a stable cytosolic Na + /K + ratio has become a crucial salinity tolerance mechanism. The higher salinity of soil resulted in high level of Na + ions in leaves, increased synthesis of osmolyte components and robust antioxidant activities to combat the oxidative stress. As whole, changes in cellular metabolites were determined by using FT-IR spectroscopy, evident as differential FT-IR profiles in both leaves and stem specific to these metabolites. The considerable amounts of HMs accumulation including Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cr, and Cd with highest being Fe in above-ground tissue of all three studied halophytes were obtained. These preliminary findings represent S. monoica, T. indica and C. cretica as potent phytoremediation plant using phytosequestration to accumulate HMs. The present study project a light on the use of these three plants in reclamation of degraded saline soils.

The Microbiome of Suaeda monoica and Dipterygium glaucum From Southern Corniche (Saudi Arabia) Reveals Different Recruitment Patterns of Bacteria and Archaea

“…monoica is a well-studied coastal halophyte that grows in marine environments (Devadatha et al, 2018). It was reported to possess various actives such as antiviral, antioxidant, wound healing (Rajathi et al, 2014), phytoremediation (Joshi et al, 2020), and antimicrobial activities (Muthazhagan et al, 2014). As a halophyte, it has also been used in the reclamation of saltaffected agricultural lands due to its ability to absorb sodium chloride (Ayyappan et al, 2013).…”

Nanofertilizer Possibilities for Healthy Soil, Water, and Food in Future: An Overview

“…The world's major food crops are threatened by soil salinity (Majeed et al, 2018 ; Joshi et al, 2020 ; Rajput et al, 2021a ). Plants' ability to absorb water is inhibited under salinity and impairs plant performance (Parihar et al, 2015 ).…”

Evaluation of the Biological Phenomenon of Cadmium Accumulation of Wheat Crop in Salt-Affected Soil

“…The spread of soils affected by salinity in many parts of the world in general and in central and southern Iraq in particular is one of the important factors in soil desertification, and the most dangerous one due to climatic factors is the decrease in the amount of fresh water, the lack of rainfall, and the drought that swept the world [1][2][3][4][5][6] and Iraq and neighboring countries took the largest share of it in recent years, which affected the agricultural production sector and caused a decrease in agricultural areas and a decline in production, especially in most of the arid and semi-arid regions that depend on irrigation. Recent statistics indicate that the total land area affected by salts amounts to 955 million hectares, which is about 10% of the land area.…”