Physiological and Biochemical Behaviours and Antioxidant Response of Helianthus annuus under Lanthanum and Cerium Stress

Nesrine Dridi, Pedro Brito, Houda Bouslimi, Renata Ferreira, Susete Martins-Dias, Isabel Caçador and Noomene Sleimi
Additional contact information
Nesrine Dridi: Research Laboratory (LR)—Resources, Materials and Ecosystems (RME), Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, Bizerte 7021, Tunisia
Pedro Brito: Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Division of Oceanography and Marine Environment, Av. Alfredo Magalhães Ramalho, 6, 1495-165 Algés, Portugal
Houda Bouslimi: Research Laboratory (LR)—Resources, Materials and Ecosystems (RME), Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, Bizerte 7021, Tunisia
Renata Ferreira: Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Susete Martins-Dias: Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA), Departamento de Bioengenharia (DBE), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Isabel Caçador: Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente (MARE), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Noomene Sleimi: Research Laboratory (LR)—Resources, Materials and Ecosystems (RME), Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, Bizerte 7021, Tunisia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: The continuous progress of global manufacturing and anthropogenic activities has resulted in excessive environmental metallic pollution, particularly with rare earth elements (REEs) which have become a prevalent issue of global concern due to their high toxicity and widespread existence. REEs-contaminated soils could ruin agriculture by inducing plant physiology disturbances in various crops that are considered the principal link of the human food chain. The main purpose of the present work is to assess the phytotoxicity of two light REEs, lanthanum (La) and cerium (Ce), in Helianthus annuus after 14 days of exposure to different concentrations of La and Ce (0, 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 µM). Plants showed different variations in shoot and root lengths at the end of the trial period. The accumulation of photosynthetic pigments, such as chlorophylls and carotenoids, as well as the photosynthetic efficiency, the non-photochemical quenching, the photosynthetically active radiation, and the electron transport rate, increased in the two REE treatments. Hydrogen peroxide significantly increased in all applied concentrations of La and Ce. A significant increase in malondialdehyde content was noticed only when plants were exposed to 2.5 µM La and 10 µM Ce. Results also demonstrated that La and Ce induced an increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase (only the highest concentration of La decreased catalase activity). The exposure to different REE concentrations induced the accumulation of La and Ce in the plants, mainly in roots. Helianthus annuus showed an effective resistance behaviour facing La- and Ce-induced stresses.

Keywords: lanthanum; cerium; antioxidant enzymes; photosynthetic pigments; chlorophyll fluorescence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4153/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4153/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4153-:d:784062

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().