Abstract
Considering its richness in organic and inorganic mineral nutrients, the recycling of sewage sludge (SS) is highly considered as a soil supplement in agriculture. However, the fate of hazardous heavy metal accumulation in the crops cultivated in SS amended soils is always a source of concern. Since nanoparticles are widely recognized to reduce heavy metal uptake by crop plants; thus, the present experiment deals with okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) cultivation under the combined application of SS and TiO2-nanoparticles (NPs). Triplicated pot experiments were conducted using different doses of SS and TiO2-NPs such as 0 g/kg SS (control), 50 g/kg SS, 50 g/kg SS + TiO2, 100 g/kg SS, and 100 g/kg SS + TiO2, respectively. The findings of this study indicated that among the doses of treatment combinations investigated, 100 g/kg SS + TiO2 showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the okra plant yield (287.87 ± 4.06 g/plant) and other biochemical parameters such as fruit length (13.97 ± 0.54 cm), plant height (75.05 ± 3.18 cm), superoxide dismutase (SOD: 110.68 ± 3.11 μ/mg), catalase (CAT: 81.32 ± 3.52 μ/mg), and chlorophyll content (3.12 ± 0.05 mg/g fwt.). Also, the maximum contents of six heavy metals in the soil and cultivated okra plant tissues (fruit, stem, and root regions) followed the order of Fe > Mn > Cu > Zn > Cr > Cd using the same treatment. Bioaccumulation and health risk assessment indicated that foliar application of TiO2-NPs significantly reduced the fate of heavy metal accumulation under higher doses of SS application. Therefore, the findings of this study suggested that the combined use of SS and TiO2-NPs may be useful in ameliorating the negative consequences of heavy metal accumulation in cultivated okra crops.
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15 October 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23655-9
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Acknowledgements
This research work is a person-to-person collaboration between Dr. Pankaj Kumar and Prof. Ebrahem M. Eid. The authors are grateful to their host institutes for providing necessary experimental facilities.
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The authors extend their appreciation to the Deputyship for Research and Innovation, Ministry of Education, in Saudi Arabia for funding this research work through the project number IFP-KKU-2020/3.
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Pankaj Kumar: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing: original draft preparation, data curation, software, validation; Saad A.M. Alamri: writing: writing: review and editing, validation; Sulaiman A. Alrumman: writing: review and editing, validation; Ebrahem M. Eid: methodology, supervision, project administration, review and editing, validation; Bashir Adelodun: software, writing: review and editing, validation; Madhumita Goala: software, writing: review and editing, validation; Kyung Sook-Choi: writing: review and editing, validation; Vinod Kumar: methodology, supervision, review and editing, resources, validation.
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Kumar, P., Alamri, S.A.M., Alrumman, S.A. et al. Foliar use of TiO2-nanoparticles for okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) cultivation on sewage sludge–amended soils: biochemical response and heavy metal accumulation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 66507–66518 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20526-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20526-1