Use of sewage sludge, a biological residue produced from sewage treatment processes in agriculture is an alternative disposal technique of waste. To study the usefulness of sewage sludge amendment for palak (Beta vulgaris var. Allgreen H-1), a leafy vegetable and consequent heavy metal contamination, a pot experiment was conducted by mixing sewage sludge at 20% and 40% (w/w) amendment ratios to the agricultural soil. Soil pH decreased whereas electrical conductance, organic carbon, total N, available P and exchangeable Na, K and Ca increased in soil amended with sewage sludge in comparison to unamended soil. Sewage sludge amendment led to significant increase in Pb, Cr, Cd, Cu, Zn and Ni concentrations of soil. Cd concentration in soil was found above the Indian permissible limit in soil at both the amendment ratios.
The increased concentration of heavy metals in soil due to sewage sludge amendment led to increases in heavy metal uptake and shoot and root concentrations of Ni, Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn in plants as compared to those grown on unamended soil. Accumulation was more in roots than shoots for most of the heavy metals. Concentrations of Cd, Ni and Zn were more than the permissible limits of Indian standard in the edible portion of palak grown on different sewage sludge amendments ratios. Sewage sludge amendment in soil decreased root length, leaf area and root biomass of palak at both the amendment ratios, whereas shoot biomass and yield decreased significantly at 40% sludge amendment. Rate of photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and chlorophyll content decreased whereas lipid peroxidation, peroxidase activity and protein and proline contents, increased in plants grown in sewage sludge-amended soil as compared to those grown in unamended soil.
The study clearly shows that increase in heavy metal concentration in foliage of plants grown in sewage sludge-amended soil caused unfavorable changes in physiological and biochemical characteristics of plants leading to reductions in morphological characteristics, biomass accumulation and yield. The study concludes that sewage sludge amendment in soil for growing palak may not be a good option due to risk of contamination of Cd, Ni and Zn and also due to lowering of yield at higher mixing ratio. 相似文献
Background, Aim and Scope
Numerous herbicides and xenobiotic organic pollutants are detoxified in plants to glutathione conjugates. Following this enzyme
catalyzed reaction, xenobiotic GS-conjugates are thought to be compartmentalized in the vacuole of plant cells. In the present
study, evidence is presented for long range transport of these conjugates in plants, rather than storage in the vacuole. To
our knowledge this is the first report about the unidirectional long range transport of xenobiotic conjugates in plants and
the exudation of a glutathione conjugate from the root tips. This could mean that plants possess an excretion system for unwanted
compounds which give them similar advantages as animals.
Materials and Methods:
Barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Cherie) were grown in Petri dishes soaked with tap water in the greenhouse.
- Fluorescence Microscopy. Monobromo- and Monochlorobimane, two model xenobiotics that are conjugated rapidly in plant cells
with glutathione, hereby forming fluorescent metabolites, were used as markers for our experiments. Their transport in the
root could be followed sensitively with very good temporal and spatial resolution. Roots of barley seedlings were cut under
water and the end at which xenobiotics were applied was fixed in an aperture with a thin latex foil and transferred into a
drop of water on a cover slide. The cover slide was fixed in a measuring chamber on the stage of an inverse fluorescence microscope
(Zeiss Axiovert 100).
- Spectrometric enzyme assay. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity was determined in the protein extracts following established
methods. Aliquots of the enzyme extract were incubated with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB), or monochlorobimane. Controls
lacking enzyme or GSH were measured.
- Pitman chamber experiments. Ten days old barley plants or detached roots were inserted into special incubation chambers, either
complete with tips or decapitated, as well as 10 days old barley plants without root tips. Compartment A was filled with a
transport medium and GSH conjugate or L-cysteine conjugate. Compartments B and C contained sugar free media. Samples were
taken from the root tip containing compartment C and the amount of conjugate transported was determined spectro-photometrically.
Results:
The transport in roots is unidirectional towards the root tips and leads to exsudation of the conjugates at rates between
20 and 200 nmol min-1. The microscopic studies have been complemented by transport studies in small root chambers and spectroscopic
quantification of dinitrobenzene-conjugates. The latter experiments confirm the microscopic studies. Furthermore it was shown
that glutathione conjugates are transported at higher rates than cysteine conjugates, despite of their higher molecular weights.
This observation points to the existence of glutathione specific carriers and a specific role of glutathione in the root.
Discussion:
It can be assumed that long distance transport of glutathione conjugates within the plant proceeds like GSH or amino acid
transport in both, phloem and xylem. The high velocity of this translocation of the GS-X is indicative of an active transport.
For free glutathione, a rapid transport-system is essential because an accumulation of GSH in the root tip inhibits further
uptake of sulfur. Taking into account that all described MRP transporters and also the GSH plasmalemma ATPases have side activities
for glutathione derivatives and conjugates, co-transport of these xenobiotic metabolites seems credible.
- On the other hand, when GS-B was applied to the root tips from the outside, no significant uptake was observed. Thus it can
be concluded that only those conjugates can be transported in the xylem which are formed inside the root apex. Having left
the root once, there seems to be no return into the root vessels, probably because of a lack of inward directed transporters.
Conclusions:
Plants seem to possess the capability to store glutathione conjugates in the vacuole, but under certain conditions, these
metabolites might also undergo long range transport, predominantly into the plant root. The transport seems dependent on specific
carriers and is unidirectional, this means that xenobiotic conjugates from the rhizosphere are not taken up again. The exudation
of xenobiotic metabolites offers an opportunity to avoid the accumulation of such compounds in the plant.
Recommendations and Perspectives:
The role of glutathione and glutathione related metabolites in the rhizosphere has not been studied in any detail, and only
scattered data are available on interactions between the plant root and rhizosphere bacteria that encounter such conjugates.
The final fate of these compounds in the root zone has also not been addressed so far. It will be interesting to study effects
of the exuded metabolites on the biology of rhizosphere bacteria and fungi. 相似文献
There is growing interest in the development of more cost-effective and retrofit technologies for the upgrade and expansion of existing wastewater treatment plants with extreme space constraints. A free-floating sponge media (BioCube) process, using a 24L lab scale reactor, was operated to study the nitrification profiles and microbial community. The COD removal efficiencies were maintained, at an average of 95%, with the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) inside the BioCube sponge media maintained at 12,688mg/L. The nitrification removal efficiencies were between 92% and 100%, with an average value of 99%. From the results of microelectrode measurements, the ammonium ion concentration was found to rapidly decrease from the surface of the BioCube sponge media to a depth of 2mm due to chemical reactions carried out by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) species. Multi-fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has been used to investigate the spatial distributions of various microbial activities within reactors. Microbial communities were targeted using different oligonucleotide probes specific to AOB and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). There were a large number of AOB populations, but these were not uniformly distributed in the biofilm compared to the NOB populations. 相似文献
An increase in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) has been noticed in most Korean reservoirs. Therefore, this research systematically investigated the causes of organic accumulation. Samples of soil affecting the quality of water of reservoirs were collected at various sources and analyzed for their organic characteristics. The COD to biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) ratio was used as the key parameter in the evaluation of non-biodegradable (NBD) organic accumulation in the reservoirs. Soil samples containing plant roots were agitated, with the supernatant showing COD/BOD ratios of less than 2.8, while those of the composted tree leaves were greater than 5.0, suggesting that humic substances produced in forest areas are a major cause of NBD organic accumulation in reservoirs. In addition, the organic fractionation of the leachate from leaching tests showed that of the various types of hydrophobic natural organic matter (NOM), the larger molecular weight humic acid makes a greater contribution than fulvic acid to the increase in the NBD COD in Korean reservoirs. 相似文献
A hydroponic screening method was used to identify high biomass crop plants with the ability to accumulate metals. Highest values of shoot accumulation were found in maize cv. Ranchero, rapeseed cv. Karat, and cardoon cv. Peralta for Pb (18 753 mg kg(-1)), Zn (10 916 mg kg(-1)), and Cd (242 mg kg(-1)), respectively. Subsequently, we tested the potential of these three cultivars for the phytoextraction of a metal spiked compost, finding out that, in cardoon and maize plants, increasing Zn and Cd concentrations led to lower values of root and shoot DW. By contrast, rapeseed shoot growth was not significantly affected by Cd concentration. Finally, a metal polluted soil was used to check these cultivars' phytoextraction capacity. Although the soil was phytotoxic enough to prevent the growth of cardoon and rapeseed plants, maize plants phytoextracted 3.7 mg Zn pot(-1). We concluded that the phytoextraction performance of cultivars varies depending on the screening method used. 相似文献
This paper reports a study designed to test, evaluate and compare micro-meteorological methods for determining the particle number flux above forest canopies. Half-hour average particle number fluxes above a representative broad-leaved forest in Denmark derived using eddy covariance range from -7x10(7) m(-2) s(-1) (1st percentile) to 5x10(7) m(-2) s(-1) (99th percentile), and have a median value of -1.6x10(6) m(-2) s(-1). The statistical uncertainties associated with the particle number flux estimates are larger than those for momentum fluxes and imply that in this data set approximately half of the particle number fluxes are not statistically different to zero. Particle number fluxes from relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) and eddy covariance are highly correlated and of almost identical magnitude. Flux estimates from the co-spectral and dissipation methods are also correlated with those from eddy covariance but exhibit higher absolute magnitude of fluxes. 相似文献