Pedosphere (5): 858--868, 2025
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2025 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Improving Cd and Zn enrichment in leaf mustard (Brassica juncea) on heavy metal-contaminated soil using metal-activating probiotics |
Qian LI1, Ping WANG2 , Yiman LI1, Zhaowen YANG1, Xu YANG1, Kailin LIANG1, Yizhuo LIU1, Zehua WEN1, Shuqiang ZHANG1, Zengqiang ZHANG1,3,4 |
1 College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100 (China)
2 College of Chemical and Material Engineering, Quzhou University, Quzhou 324000 (China)
3 Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in Northwestern China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712100 (China)
4 Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712100 (China) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Microbe-assisted phytoremediation is of great significance for the remediation of soil contaminated with heavy metals (HMs), and probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that can improve soil structure and fertility and promote plant growth. However, there are few studies on probiotics applied to remediate soil contaminated with HMs, and whether probiotics can improve the efficiency of phytoremediation still needs to be further investigated. This study aimed to investigate the effects of two kinds of probiotics, Lactobacillus casei (Lc) and Bacillus licheniformis (Bl), on activating the remediation potential of leaf mustard, Brassica juncea (L.) Czerniak., for soil contaminated with Cd and Zn using incubation and pot experiments. The results showed that the addition of the two probiotics significantly reduced soil pH by 0.05-0.32 units and improved the available contents of soil HMs (by 15.3%-60.0% and 7.1%-23.8% for Cd and Zn, respectively) in the incubation experiment. After probiotic addition, available Cd and Zn contents in soil treated with 1×109 colony forming units (cfu) mL-1 Bl were 1.65- and 1.66-folds of those in the control without probiotic, respectively, in the pot experiment. Meanwhile, soil alkaline phosphatase, urease, and sucrose activities were increased, indicating that soil microbial metabolic activities were also stimulated. Addition of Lc and Bl significantly improved the biomass and chlorophyll contents of leaf mustard. The contents of Cd and Zn in shoots and roots were significantly increased in the treatment with 1×105 cfu mL-1 Lc. Furthermore, the activities of plant antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase, were increased, and the content of plant malondialdehyde was reduced, indicating that the resistance of plants to HMs was enhanced. These results indicated that these two kinds of probiotics could enhance the availability of Cd and Zn directly in soil and promote the growth of leaf mustard, thereby increasing the efficiency of phytoremediation for HMs. The study provides a useful reference for probiotic-assisted phytoremediation of soil contaminated with HMs. |
| Key Words: antioxidant enzyme,Bacillus licheniformis,Lactobacillus casei,malondialdehyde,microbe-assisted phytoremediation,soil contamination |
| Citation: Li Q, Wang P, Li Y M, Yang Z W, Yang X, Liang K L, Liu Y Z, Wen Z H, Zhang S Q, Zhang Z Q. 2025. Improving Cd and Zn enrichment in leaf mustard (Brassica juncea) on heavy metal-contaminated soil using metal-activating probiotics. Pedosphere. 35(5):858-868. |
| |
|
View Full Text
|
|
|
|
