Silicon Mitigates Negative Impacts of Drought and UV-B Radiation in Plants

Due to climate change, plants are being more adversely affected by heatwaves, floods, droughts, and increased temperatures and UV radiation. This review focuses on enhanced UV-B radiation and drought, and mitigation of their adverse effects through silicon addition. Studies on UV-B stress and addition of silicon or silicon nanoparticles have been reported for crop plants including rice, wheat, and soybean. These have shown that addition of silicon to plants under UV-B radiation stress increases the contents of chlorophyll, soluble sugars, anthocyanins, flavonoids, and UV-absorbing and antioxidant compounds. Silicon also affects photosynthesis rate, proline content, metal toxicity, and lipid peroxidation. Drought is a stress factor that affects normal plant growth and development. It has been frequently reported that silicon can reduce stress caused by different abiotic factors, including drought. For example, under drought stress, silicon increases ascorbate peroxidase activity, total soluble sugars content, relative water content, and photosynthetic rate. Silicon also decreases peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities, and malondialdehyde content. The effects of silicon on drought and concurrently UV-B stressed plants has not yet been studied in detail, but initial studies show some stress mitigation by silicon.

Mitigation of climate change and environmental hazards in plants: Potential role of the beneficial metalloid silicon

In the last decades, the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ and the average temperature have been increasing, and this trend is expected to become more severe in the near future. Additionally, environmental stresses including drought, salinity, UV-radiation, heavy metals, and toxic elements exposure represent a threat for ecosystems and agriculture. Climate and environmental changes negatively affect plant growth, biomass and yield production, and also enhance plant susceptibility to pests and diseases. Silicon (Si), as a beneficial element for plants, is involved in plant tolerance and/or resistance to various abiotic and biotic stresses. The beneficial role of Si has been shown in various plant species and its accumulation relies on the root's uptake capacity. However, Si uptake in plants depends on many biogeochemical factors that may be substantially altered in the future, affecting its functional role in plant protection. At present, it is not clear whether Si accumulation in plants will be positively or negatively affected by changing climate and environmental conditions. In this review, we focused on Si interaction with the most important factors of global change and environmental hazards in plants, discussing the potential role of its application as an alleviation strategy for climate and environmental hazards based on current knowledge.

Effects of tourmaline catalyzed Fenton-like combined with bioremediation on the migration of PBDEs in soil-plant systems: Soil properties and physiological response of lettuce and selective uptake of PBDEs

A series of pollutants can be removed from soil using a Fenton-like oxidation and biological treatment. As a natural mineral, tourmaline has been used for as a material of Fenton-like reaction. In the present study, the risks of remediation technology tourmaline catalyzed Fenton-like reaction (TCFR) combined with Phanerochaete chrysosporium (TCFR + P) were assessed through measuring soil properties, physiological response of plant, and PBDEs migration from soil to plant. Batch pot experiments showed that the silicon contents, specific surface area and soil pore size of soil in TCFR and 5%TCFR + P groups increased obviously. TCFR and TCFR + P treatments promoted the lettuce growth compared to control. Moreover, chlorophyll content of lettuce in 2%TCFR + P and 5%TCFR + P group increased by 46.74% and 44.57% than that in the CK, respectively. The treatment of 2%TCFR decreased the total concentration of PBDEs in rhizosphere soil and non-rhizosphere soil by 52.0.2% and 64.17%, respectively, after 60 days compared to the soil of CK, and did not prompt the uptake of lower-brominated PBDEs by lettuce. TCFR and TCFR + P can alter the migration of BDE isomers from soil to plant, the ratio of BDE99/BDE100 in lettuce shoots decreased slightly. BDE-99/BDE-100 ratios in the shoots were lower than those in the roots, while BDE153/BDE154 ratios were higher than 1.0 and ratios in shoots were higher than those in roots. Therefore, our findings illustrated that the TCFR could be applied to remediate the agricultural soil, considering the appropriate doses of tourmaline.

Water Shortage Strongly Alters Formation of Calcium Oxalate Druse Crystals and Leaf Traits in Fagopyrum esculentum

Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) is a robust plant with high resistance to different environmental constraints. It contains high levels of calcium oxalate (CaOx) druse crystals, although their role remains obscure. The objective was to examine the effects of water shortage on plant biomass partition and leaf traits and formation of CaOx druse crystals in common buckwheat. Buckwheat plants were exposed to favorable and reduced water availability for 28 days. The element composition and morphological, biochemical, physiological and optical traits of the leaves, and the plant biomass were investigated under these conditions. Measurements of photochemical efficiency of photosystem II showed undisturbed functioning for buckwheat exposed to water shortage, apparently due to partially closed stomata and more efficient water regulation. Strong relationships were seen between water-related parameters and Ca, Mn and S content, and size and density of CaOx druse crystals. Redundancy analysis revealed the importance of the size of CaOx druse crystals to explain reflection in the UV range. Water shortage resulted in shorter plants with the same leaf mass (i.e., increased mass:height ratio), which, together with denser leaf tissue and higher content of photosynthetic pigments and protective substances, provides an advantage under extreme weather conditions.

Severe Water Deficiency during the Mid-Vegetative and Reproductive Phase has Little Effect on Proso Millet Performance

Climate change can result in extreme droughts, significantly affecting crop production. C4 crop proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) has the lowest water consumption among all of the cereal crops. Understanding its survival mechanisms is thus crucial for agriculture. Furthermore, yield reduction does not only occur directly due to water shortage, but is also a consequence of an impaired element uptake during drought. This study aimed to examine the effect of water deficiency on proso millet leaf traits, plant biomass partition, and yield. In addition, leaf element contents were analysed, including silicon, which is an important multifunctional element for grasses. The majority of the measured parameters showed little change from the control to the moderate and severe water shortage treatments, even though the soil moisture levels differed significantly. The most pronounced reduction in comparison to the control was for leaf biomass, leaf stomatal conductance, and leaf silicon, phosphorus, calcium, and sulphur contents. Conversely, an increase was obtained for leaf potassium and chlorine contents. Panicle biomass was the same for all plant groups. Leaf silicon was positively correlated to reflectance in the UV region, while leaf calcium was negatively correlated to reflectance in the visible regions, which might prevent damage due to short-wave UV radiation and provide sufficient visible light for photosynthesis. The efficient light and water management, reduction of leaf biomass, and same-sized root system may be the mechanisms that mitigate the negative effects of water shortage in proso millet.