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. 2024 Jul 1;14(1):15062.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-65834-3.

Salt stress amelioration and nutrient strengthening in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) via biochar amendment and zinc fortification: seed priming versus foliar application

Shoaib Ahmad  1 , Adiba Khan Sehrish  1 , Afzal Hussain  2 , Lidan Zhang  1 , Sarah Owdah Alomrani  3 , Azeem Ahmad  4 , Khalid A Al-Ghanim  5 , Mohammad Ali Alshehri  6   7 , Shafaqat Ali  8   9 , Pallab K Sarker  10
Affiliations

Salt stress amelioration and nutrient strengthening in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) via biochar amendment and zinc fortification: seed priming versus foliar application

Shoaib Ahmad et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Soil salinity is a major nutritional challenge with poor agriculture production characterized by high sodium (Na+) ions in the soil. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and biochar have received attention as a sustainable strategy to reduce biotic and abiotic stress. However, there is a lack of information regarding the incorporation of ZnO NPs with biochar to ameliorate the salinity stress (0, 50,100 mM). Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the potentials of ZnO NPs application (priming and foliar) alone and with a combination of biochar on the growth and nutrient availability of spinach plants under salinity stress. Results demonstrated that salinity stress at a higher rate (100 mM) showed maximum growth retardation by inducing oxidative stress, resulted in reduced photosynthetic rate and nutrient availability. ZnO NPs (priming and foliar) alone enhanced growth, chlorophyll contents and gas exchange parameters by improving the antioxidant enzymes activity of spinach under salinity stress. While, a significant and more pronounced effect was observed at combined treatments of ZnO NPs with biochar amendment. More importantly, ZnO NPs foliar application with biochar significantly reduced the Na+ contents in root 57.69%, and leaves 61.27% of spinach as compared to the respective control. Furthermore, higher nutrient contents were also found at the combined treatment of ZnO NPs foliar application with biochar. Overall, ZnO NPs combined application with biochar proved to be an efficient and sustainable strategy to alleviate salinity stress and improve crop nutritional quality under salinity stress. We inferred that ZnO NPs foliar application with a combination of biochar is more effectual in improving crop nutritional status and salinity mitigation than priming treatments with a combination of biochar.

Keywords: Antioxidant enzymes activates; Biochar; Chlorophyll pigments; Nutrient contents; Salinity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of ZnO NPs (a, b), Particle size distribution (c).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of farmyard manure biochar produced at temperature 500 °C (a) Image of pores size and shape at 10 µm (b) Image of surface at 20 µm (c) Pores ranging at 50 µm and 1000X (d) Top view of a surface image of biochar at 100 µm and FTIR spectra of farmyard manure biochar (e).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) root length, (b) shoot length, (c) root fresh weight, (d) root dry weight, (e) shoot fresh weight, (f) shoot dry weight and (g) number of leaves of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) chlorophyll a, (b) chlorophyll b, (c) total chlorophyll, (d) carotenoids and (e) SPAD values of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) peroxidase (POD) in leaves, (b) superoxide dismutase (SOD) in leaves, (c) catalase (CAT) in leaves, and (d) ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in leaves of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) peroxidase (POD) in roots, (b) superoxide dismutase (SOD) in roots, (c) catalase (CAT) in roots, and (d) ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in roots of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) malondialdehyde contents (MDA) in leaves, (b) hydrogen peroxide contents (H2O2) in leaves and (c) electrolyte leakage (EL) in leaves of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) malondialdehyde MDA contents in roots, (b) hydrogen peroxide contents (H2O2) in roots and (c) electrolyte leakage in roots of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) total phenolic in leaves and (b) total phenolic in roots of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effect of ZnO NPs (0, 100 mg/L priming, and foliar 0, 100 mg/L) alone and combined with biochar on (a) Na+ contents in leaves and (b) Na+ contents in roots of spinach grown under salinity stress (0, 50 and 100 mM). Error bars denoted the standard deviations of the measured data having three replications (n = 3). Small letters on the error bars denoted the statistical significance among the treatments determined by Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 11
Figure 11
Pearson correlation for the studied spinach different parameters. The results are displayed in a correlation matrix, where negative correlations are indicated by blue while positive correlations are indicated by red.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Principal component analysis for studied spinach different parameters.
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