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Phytoremediation of uranium-contaminated soil by perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) enhanced with citric acid application

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Abstract

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) was planted in uranium-contaminated soil mixtures supplemented with different amounts of citric acid to investigate the defense strategies of perennial ryegrass against U and the enhanced mechanism of citric acid on the remediation efficiency in the laboratory. The uranium content in the plant tissues showed that the roots were the predominant tissue for uranium accumulation. In both root and shoot cells, the majority of U was located in the cell wall fraction. Furthermore, antioxidant enzymes were also stimulated when exposed to U stress. These results suggested that perennial ryegrass had evolved defense strategies, such as U sequestration in root tissue, compartmentalization in the cell wall, and antioxidant enzyme systems, to minimize uranium stress. For an enhanced mechanism, the optimal concentration of citric acid was 5 mmol/kg, and the removal efficiency of U in the shoots and roots increased by 47.37% and 30.10%, respectively. The treatment with 5 mmol/kg citric acid had the highest contents of photosynthetic pigment and soluble protein, the highest activity of antioxidant enzymes, and the lowest content of MDA (malondialdehyde) and relative electrical conductivity. Moreover, the TEM (transmission electron microscope) results revealed that after 5 mmol/kg citric acid was added, the cell structure of plant branches partially returned to normal, the number of mitochondria increased, chloroplast surfaces seemed normal, and the cell wall became visible. The damage to the cell ultrastructure of perennial ryegrass was significantly alleviated by treatment with 5 mmol/kg citric acid. All the results above indicated that perennial ryegrass could accumulate uranium with elevated uranium tolerance and enrichment ability with 5 mmol/kg citric acid.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are property of Lishan Rong (University of South China, China); they are available from the corresponding author who will inform Lishan Rong that the data will be released on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11475080, 51904155), Education Department Fund of Hunan Province of China (19C1588), and Hengyang’s Science and Technology Planning Projects (2018KJ130). national natural science foundation of china,11475080,Shuibo Xie,51904155,Guohua Wang,education department of hunan province,19C1588,Lishan Rong,hengyang’s science and technology planning projects,2018KJ130,Guohua Wang

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Lishan Rong, Shiqi Zhang, Jiali Wang, Shiyou Li, Shuibo Xie & Guohua Wang

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  1. Lishan Rong
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  2. Shiqi Zhang
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  3. Jiali Wang
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  4. Shiyou Li
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  5. Shuibo Xie
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Method implementation and optimization, analysis, and data evaluation were performed by Lishan Rong and Shiqi Zhang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shiyou Li and Guohua Wang. Shuibo Xie, Jiali Wang, and Guohua Wang commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guohua Wang.

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Rong, L., Zhang, S., Wang, J. et al. Phytoremediation of uranium-contaminated soil by perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) enhanced with citric acid application. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 33002–33012 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18600-9

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