Glycine Betaine Application as a Strategic Shield against Cadmium Toxicity by Enhancing Stress Tolerance Mechanism in Vigna radiata L. Seedlings
摘要
Purpose: This study investigates the ameliorating role of glycine betaine (GB) application in morpho-physiological, biochemical and histochemical changes in cadmium (Cd)-stressed mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) seedlings. This study has not been previously investigated in mungbean seedlings under pot experiment. We aim to offer scientific framework for plant tolerance mechanism, which will be beneficial for future applications in sustainable agricultural development. Methods: The treatments were set with two doses of Cd (3 mg kg-1; low (Cd1) and 9 mg kg-1; high (Cd2)) and two concentration of GB (25 mg kg-1; low (GBL) and 40 mg kg-1; high (GBH)) which includes 9 conditions: control (without Cd and GB), GBL, GBH, Cd1, Cd1 + GBL, Cd1 + GBH, Cd2, Cd2 + GBL, Cd2 + GBH under pot experiment. Result: The fresh weight; FW and dry weight; DW of the Cd-treated seedlings decreased by 23 and 36% under Cd1 and 19 and 38% under Cd2 than that of their respective controls. The GBL application relatively decreased high Cd accumulation than GBH about 1.6 and 1.3 folds in Cd-treated shoots as compared to Cd1 and Cd2 alone seedlings respectively. In this study, GB applied seedlings exhibited enhancement in growth attributes, photosynthetic machinery, decreased Cd content while increased nutritional value, modulated histochemical studies, stomatal behaviour and activated enzymatic antioxidant system along with nitrogen metabolic enzymes in plants under Cd stress. Our results are further supported by triangle heatmap with correlation matrix and non-metric-dimensional scaling (NMDS) plot. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that, the use of GBL will be more efficient and beneficial dose which can be implemented to lay the groundwork for sustainable agriculture.