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Brassinosteroid improves seed germination and early development of tomato seedling under phenanthrene stress

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Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the toxic persistent organic pollutants, have global environmental concern. Seed germination and early seedling development are the initial handicaps for plant establishment in phytoremediation program. Assisted phytoremediation by plant growth regulators may be a potential solution for these problems. Hence, we investigated the effects of seed treatment with various concentrations (0.01, 1.0, 100 nM) of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) in tomato under graded levels (30, 100, 300 μM) of a three-ring PAH namely phenanthrene (PHE). Delayed and decreased seed germination, reduced length and fresh weight (FW) of shoot and root were observed following 10 days of PHE exposure in a dose dependent manner. Chlorophyll fluorescence study suggested a possible photoinhibition and damage to photosynthetic apparatus under PHE exposure. However, seed treatment with EBR improved seed germination and increased length and FW of shoot and root. In addition, EBR remarkably restored the studied chlorophyll fluorescence parameters towards control levels. Different responses in antioxidant enzymes were observed following PHE exposure, while malondialdehyde (MDA) content was increased in a concentration dependent manner. EBR treatment prior to PHE exposure remarkably increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes over PHE alone, but decreased the MDA contents both in shoot and root of young tomato seedlings. Considering all the studied parameters, seed treatment with 1.0 nM EBR was most effective followed by 100 and 0.01 nM for the improvement of germination and seedling growth under PHE stress in tomato.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

BRs:

Brassinosteroids

CAT:

Catalase

EBR:

24-epibrassinolide

Fv/Fm:

Maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII

FW:

Fresh weight

G-POD:

Guaiacol peroxidase

GR:

Glutathione reductase

MDA:

Malondialdehye

NPQ:

Non-photochemical quenching coefficient

PAHs:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

PHE:

Phenanthrene

PPFD:

Photosynthetic photon flux density

qP:

Photochemical quenching coefficient

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SD:

Standard deviation

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

ΦPSII :

Quantum efficiency of PSII

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB119000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31071790) and the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2011BAD12B04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, Yu Hang Tang Road 866, Hangzhou, 310058, Peoples Republic of China

    Golam Jalal Ahammed, Shuai Zhang, Kai Shi, Yan-Hong Zhou & Jing-Quan Yu

  2. Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plants Growth, Development and Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture, Yu Hang Tang Road 866, Hangzhou, 310058, Peoples Republic of China

    Jing-Quan Yu

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  1. Golam Jalal Ahammed
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Correspondence to Golam Jalal Ahammed or Jing-Quan Yu.

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Ahammed, G.J., Zhang, S., Shi, K. et al. Brassinosteroid improves seed germination and early development of tomato seedling under phenanthrene stress. Plant Growth Regul 68, 87–96 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-012-9696-0

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