Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Improve Growth and Enhance Tolerance of Broad Bean Plants under Saline Soil Conditions

Abstract

Soil salinity is established as one of the major environmental problems, decreasing crop productivity worldwide, thereby threatening sustainable agriculture. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nTiO2) for ameliorating soil salinity in broad bean, an important leguminous crop. As nTiO2 is known to have pro‐oxidant and antioxidant properties, the effects of three different nTiO2 concentrations (0·01%, 0·02% and 0·03%) were compared with respect to plant growth and stress responses. The 0·01% nTiO2 application significantly increased shoot length, leaf area and root dry weight of plants under normal conditions. These growth‐promoting effects were simultaneous with increased levels of chlorophyll b, soluble sugars and proline and enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes. Under saline soil conditions, although proline level and enzymatic antioxidant activities were increased, plant growth significantly reduced. The 0·01% nTiO2 supplementation significantly increased the activities of enzymatic antioxidants and levels of soluble sugars, amino acids and proline in salt‐affected plants versus plants subjected to salinity alone. Thus, the increased antioxidant enzyme activities contributed to the observed reduction in hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde contents, while enhanced levels of proline and other metabolites contributed to osmoprotection, collectively resulting in significant plant growth improvement under salinity. Furthermore, nTiO2‐mediated positive effects were concentration dependent with 0·01% nTiO2 being the most effective, whereas 0·02% showed an intermediate response and 0·03% was almost ineffective under both control and saline soil conditions. Our findings provide a foundation for nTiO2 application in improving growth of plants cultivated on naturally contaminated saline soils. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Co-application of biochar and titanium dioxide nanoparticles to promote remediation of antimony from soil by Sorghum bicolor: metal uptake and plant response

“…The length of roots followed the same trend as root biomass almost in all amended treatments ( Figure 2 b). Application of 100 mg/kg TiO 2 NPs increased shoot length by 5.95% compared with the control, which was in agreement with the findings of Abdel Latef et al. (2018) , where adding 0.01% TiO 2 NPs to soil slightly increased shoot length of leguminous crops ( Abdel Latef et al., 2018 ).…”

“…Application of 100 mg/kg TiO 2 NPs increased shoot length by 5.95% compared with the control, which was in agreement with the findings of Abdel Latef et al. (2018) , where adding 0.01% TiO 2 NPs to soil slightly increased shoot length of leguminous crops ( Abdel Latef et al., 2018 ). Boosted ability of edible plants such as tomato to take up nutrients (N, P, Ca, Mg) from soil, and therefore enhanced growth of plants in soils treated with titanium was also reported ( Kleiber and Markiewicz, 2013 ).…”

Silicon Confers Soybean Resistance to Salinity Stress Through Regulation of Reactive Oxygen and Reactive Nitrogen Species

“…During photosynthesis and respiration, plants continuously produce ROS, such as singlet oxygen, •O 2 − , H 2 O 2 , and •OH − , and these ROS induce oxidative damage in the cell organelle (Sharma et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2017;Abdel Latef et al, 2018). Therefore, plants must scavenge excess ROS to avoid plant cell damage (Sharma et al, 2012).…”

Plant-Growth Promoting Bacillus oryzicola YC7007 Modulates Stress-Response Gene Expression and Provides Protection From Salt Stress

“…Salinity has been shown to reduce the content of leaf chlorophyll, resulting in impaired photosynthesis under abiotic stress conditions (Chaves et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2009a). Salt stress seriously damages photosynthesis as well as plant growth and development by resulting in water deficits, oxidant imbalances, cell-division impairment, membrane degeneration, ion injury, and osmotic stress (Abdel Latef et al, 2017;Abdel Latef et al, 2018;Abdel Latef et al, 2019a;Abdel Latef et al, 2019b). Plants have developed various mechanisms to avoid salt stress by employing compatible solutes which reduce sodium (Na + ) uptake while regulating stomatal closure, shoot branching, and lateral root formation to conserve moisture (Acosta-Motos et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2018).…”