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Highly promoted phytoremediation with endophyte inoculation in multi-contaminated soil: plant biochemical and rhizosphere soil ecological functioning behavior

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Abstract

Rhizosphere soil ecological functioning behavior is of critical importance for regulating phytoremediation efficiency during microbial-assisted phytoremediation for multi-heavy metal–polluted soils. In this study, Trifolium repens L. and its endophyte Pseudomonas putida were used to investigate the ecological responses of the microbe-plant-soil system in Cd, Cr, and Pb co-contaminated soil. The results showed that endophyte Pseudomonas putida significantly increased plant biomass by 22.26–22.78% and phytoremediation efficiency by 29.73–64.01%. The increased phytoremediation efficiency may be related to the improvement of photosynthetic pigment content and antioxidant enzyme activities in leaves and the enhancement of rhizosphere soil ecological functioning. With endophyte application, soil nutrient content was significantly increased and heavy metal bioavailability was enhanced that residual fraction was reduced by 3.79–12.87%. Besides, the relative abundance of ecologically beneficial rhizobacteria such as Bacteriovorax and Arthrobacter was increased by 3.04–8.53% and 0.80–1.64%, respectively. Endophyte inoculation also significantly increased all the functional genes involved in cellular processes, genetic information processing, environmental information processing, and metabolism. This study indicated that the application of endophytes has a positive effect on the biochemical responses of Trifolium repens L. and could significantly improve rhizosphere ecological functioning in multi-heavy metal contamination, which provided clear strategies for regulating phytoremediation.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51874018), the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC1805002), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-MP-20–35).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chenjing Liu, Qian Song, Linhuazhi Ao, Nan Zhang, Haowen An, Hai Lin & Yingbo Dong

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory On Resource-Oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chenjing Liu, Hai Lin & Yingbo Dong

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  1. Chenjing Liu
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  2. Qian Song
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  3. Linhuazhi Ao
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  4. Nan Zhang
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  5. Haowen An
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  6. Hai Lin
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  7. Yingbo Dong
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Contributions

Chenjing Liu: conceptualization, writing—original draft, investigation, formal analysis, data curation.

Hai Lin: conceptualization, supervision, validation, resources, writing—review & editing, funding acquisition, project administration.

Yingbo Dong: conceptualization, supervision, writing—review & editing.

Qian Song: investigation, formal analysis.

Linhuazhi Ao: investigation, formal analysis.

Nan Zhang: investigation, formal analysis.

Haowen An: investigation, formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Yingbo Dong.

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Liu, C., Song, Q., Ao, L. et al. Highly promoted phytoremediation with endophyte inoculation in multi-contaminated soil: plant biochemical and rhizosphere soil ecological functioning behavior. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 89063–89080 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21689-7

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