Open Access

ARTICLE

Nitric Oxide Alleviates Photochemical Damage Induced by Cadmium Stress in Pea Seedlings

Ekhlaque A. Khan^1,2,*, Hamdino M. I. Ahmed³, Meena Misra¹, Pallavi Sharma^1,4, Amarendra N. Misra¹

1 Department of Life Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, 835205, India
2 Department of Biotechnology, Ch. Bansilal University, Bhiwani, Haryana, 127021, India
3 Horticulture Research Institute (HRI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt
4 School of Environment and Sustainable Development, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, 382030, India

* Corresponding Author: Ekhlaque A. Khan. Email:

(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Integrating Agronomy and Plant Physiology for Improving Crop Production)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(5), 959-973. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.018708

Received 12 August 2021; Accepted 18 October 2021; Issue published 24 January 2022

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd), a life threatening hazardous heavy metal is abundant in nature. Cd amounts are greater in leaves than other plant parts, and it shows considerable effects on photosynthesis. Nitric oxide (NO), a free radical present in living organisms, is now known as an important signaling molecule playing various physiological processes in plants. In this study, the possible ameliorative effect of NO on photosynthesis was examined on pea seedlings grown under Cd stress. Results showed that chlorophyll, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, photochemical efficiency of Photosystem II and Photosystem I decreased, and Fo and non-photochemical parameters for PSII and PSI significantly increased due to Cd stress. This suggests that Cd affects the photochemistry efficiency at both the PSII and PSI levels. Nitric oxide supplementation through SNP ameliorated Cd stress by enhancing all the above mentioned parameters but causing a reduction in the Fo, and non-photochemical parameters of PSII and PSI in pea plants. These data indicate that the exogenous application of NO was useful in mitigating Cd-induced damage to photosynthesis in pea seedling.

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Keywords

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