More than 10 million sites in the world are considered polluted, corresponding to more than 20 million hectares of soil; of these, more than 50% are contaminated with heavy metals (HMs). According to a study by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the total arable land area contaminated by HM has reached nearly 20 million hectares in China alone. The worldwide economic impact of HM pollution is estimated to exceed $10 billion annually. To HMs belong metals and metalloids having an atomic density higher than 4 g/cm3; the majority of them may be toxic to animals and humans even at low concentrations. In areas contaminated by HMs, agriculture is severely damaged due to their adverse effects on crop growth, yield, quality, marketability, and above all, if tolerated and accumulated in edible parts of the plants without visible symptoms, for the serious effects on food safety. A promising and environmental-friendly innovative strategy for improving plant tolerance and/or avoidance of toxic metals and reducing their accumulation in edible plant organs and their progressive accumulation high up the food chain would be the use of plant biostimulants. They can improve plant nutrient use efficiency, quality traits, and tolerance to abiotic stresses by eliciting changes in plant primary and secondary metabolism involving synergistic or antagonist interplays and crosstalk with other plant metabolites and phytohormones. In fact, they directly or indirectly chelate and reduce the bioavailability of HMs, modulate membrane transporters, decrease HMs uptake and/or translocation to edible plant organs, and increase oxidative defense response by upregulating antioxidant enzymes and metabolites.
Multiple levels of crosstalks in biostimulant modulation of plant metal homeostasis
Carillo P.Writing – Review & Editing
;Papa S.Writing – Review & Editing
;
2023
Abstract
More than 10 million sites in the world are considered polluted, corresponding to more than 20 million hectares of soil; of these, more than 50% are contaminated with heavy metals (HMs). According to a study by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the total arable land area contaminated by HM has reached nearly 20 million hectares in China alone. The worldwide economic impact of HM pollution is estimated to exceed $10 billion annually. To HMs belong metals and metalloids having an atomic density higher than 4 g/cm3; the majority of them may be toxic to animals and humans even at low concentrations. In areas contaminated by HMs, agriculture is severely damaged due to their adverse effects on crop growth, yield, quality, marketability, and above all, if tolerated and accumulated in edible parts of the plants without visible symptoms, for the serious effects on food safety. A promising and environmental-friendly innovative strategy for improving plant tolerance and/or avoidance of toxic metals and reducing their accumulation in edible plant organs and their progressive accumulation high up the food chain would be the use of plant biostimulants. They can improve plant nutrient use efficiency, quality traits, and tolerance to abiotic stresses by eliciting changes in plant primary and secondary metabolism involving synergistic or antagonist interplays and crosstalk with other plant metabolites and phytohormones. In fact, they directly or indirectly chelate and reduce the bioavailability of HMs, modulate membrane transporters, decrease HMs uptake and/or translocation to edible plant organs, and increase oxidative defense response by upregulating antioxidant enzymes and metabolites.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
