Calcium Oxide Nanoparticles Have the Role of Alleviating Arsenic Toxicity of Barley

Abstract

Arsenic (As) contamination in agricultural soils has become a great threat to the sustainable development of agriculture and food safety. Although a lot of approaches have been proposed for dealing with soil As contamination, they are not practical in crop production due to high cost, time-taking, or operational complexity. The rapid development of nanotechnology appears to provide a novel solution to soil As contamination. This study investigated the roles of calcium oxide nanoparticles (CaO NPs) in alleviating As toxicity in two barley genotypes (LJZ and Pu-9) differing in As tolerance. The exposure of barley seedlings to As stress showed a significant reduction in plant growth, calcium and chlorophyll content (SPAD value), fluorescence efficiency (Fv/m), and a dramatic increase in the contents of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and As, with LJZ being more affected than Pu-9. The exogenous supply of CaO NPs notably alleviated the toxic effect caused by As in the two barley genotypes. Moreover, the expression of As transporter genes, that is, HvPHT1;1, HvPHT1;3, HvPHT1;4 and HvPHT1;6, was dramatically enhanced when barley seedlings were exposed to As stress and significantly reduced in the treatment of CaO NPs addition. It may be concluded that the roles of CaO NPs in alleviating As toxicity could be attributed to its enhancement of Ca uptake, ROS scavenging ability, and reduction of As uptake and transportation from roots to shoots.

Evaluation of Some Nanoparticles Against Sclerotium rolfsii the Cause of Root and Crown Rots in Common Beans

“…CaO nanoparticles exhibit unique structural properties for common beans, so they can be exploited for soil improvement and plant fertilization. The positive effects of CaO-NPs on the growth of lettuce and zucchini (Meier et al, 2020), rice (Syu et al, 2020), chickpea (Gandhi et al, 2021), and barley (Nazir et al, 2022) have been reported. According to Gandhi et al (2021), CaO-NPs may prevent chloroplast thylakoids from being damaged and can keep cellular homeostasis during abiotic stress, which can enhance the photosynthetic activity in plants.…”

“…Catalase activity of cowpea plant was significantly impacted by copper nanoparticles (Ogunkunle et al, 2018). The use of calcium nanoparticles enhanced peroxidase and catalase activities in barley seedlings, which are self-defense responses to oxidative stress (Nazir et al, 2022).…”

“…Silver, copper, and calcium nanoparticles have made their way into the field of controlling plant diseases (Chu et al, 2012;Abou-Salem et al, 2022 andNazir et al, 2022). In order to enhance the effectiveness, reactivity, and characteristics of metal-based nanoparticles, metal oxides were created (Mansoor et al, 2021), which are characterized by their stability, robustness, and long shelf life (Roy et al, 2013).…”

Nano-enabled agrochemicals: mitigating heavy metal toxicity and enhancing crop adaptability for sustainable crop production

“…There is a scarcity of research documenting the possible functions of other metallic NPs in alleviating the damaging effects of As treatments on higher plants. Nazir et al [ 10 ] demonstrated that CaO-NPs enhanced plant growth in the presence of As toxicity by increasing calcium availability, decreasing As uptake through the downregulation of genes such as PHT1;1 , 1;3 , 1;4 , and 1;6 , and reinforcing the plant’s capacity to scavenge ROS. Li et al [ 61 ] noted that the coexistence of MnO 2 -NPs with As resulted in a decline in the average As concentration in roots and husks compared to treatments with As alone.…”

Unveiling Innovative Approaches to Mitigate Metals/Metalloids Toxicity for Sustainable Agriculture

“…The application of CeO 2− NPs dramatically increased plant growth and biomass, decreased oxidative stress, and promoted enzyme activity (Ma et al, 2022). Nazir et al (2022) looked into the beneficial effects of calcium oxide nanoparticles (CaO‐NPs) in reducing the toxicity caused by arsenic stress. They showed that the exogenous application of CaO‐NPs to barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) reduced the harmful effects of As stress, improved plant development, Chl content, and MDA levels, and decreased ROS production.…”