| Journal: |
Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition
springer
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| Abstract: |
Chromium (Cr) is one of heavy metals that extremely dangerous to the ecosystem, especially plants as it has a detrimental
influence on numerous physiological and metabolic pathways, which in turn affects the plant growth, development, and
nutrient-taking capacity. The application of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi or glycine betaine (GB) was widely studied
regarding their potential to alleviate Cr toxicity. However, limited information is documented regarding their combined
use. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the ameliorative effects of AM application and GB (50 mM) foliar
spray either individually or in combination on fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) plants upon 200 mg kg−1 Cr
stress. Results showed that the separate application of AM and GB markedly alleviated Cr toxicity on shoot height, root
length, total fresh and dry weights and Cr-stress indices of fenugreek plants, with a more obvious alleviation with their dual
applications. A significant increase in total chlorophyll (32.31, 14.51 and 44.06%) validated the effectiveness of AM, 50 mM
GB and AM + GB in Cr-stressed plants as compared to stressed one. Cr stress significantly increased arbuscules colonization
in the roots of trigonella by 43.16%. The extraordinary result was that 200 mg kg−1 of Cr increased mycorrhizal dependency
of trigonella plants (120.40%) compared to those that were not stressed (73.16%). The combined application of AM fungi
and GB markedly reduced Cr-induced malondialdehyde, and increased the total Chl, growth attributes, proline, protein, free
amino acids and sugars as compared to their respective controls. AM colonization with GB counteracted Cr-induced altera
tions of peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase activities in fenugreek shoots. These findings demonstrated that, in comparison
to their individual applications, the combination use of AM and GB is more effective and will provide novel perspectives
for reducing Cr toxicity, and will boost plant tolerance.
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