Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress
Abstract Heavy metals (HMs) contamination poses a significant threat to environmental matrices, particularly soil, which is essential for food security, agricultural productivity, and key ecosystem services. Understanding how crops respond to HMs is crucial for developing biomonitoring strategies to...
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SpringerOpen
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-025-00798-8 |
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| author | Lina Fusaro Francesca Lanni Laura Varone Giuseppina Falasca Silvia Serranti Riccardo Gasbarrone Davide Gattabria Vincenza Cozzolino Alessandro Piccolo Fausto Manes |
| author_facet | Lina Fusaro Francesca Lanni Laura Varone Giuseppina Falasca Silvia Serranti Riccardo Gasbarrone Davide Gattabria Vincenza Cozzolino Alessandro Piccolo Fausto Manes |
| author_sort | Lina Fusaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Heavy metals (HMs) contamination poses a significant threat to environmental matrices, particularly soil, which is essential for food security, agricultural productivity, and key ecosystem services. Understanding how crops respond to HMs is crucial for developing biomonitoring strategies to assess soil contamination and inform remediation efforts. Plants, including crops, exhibit a range of functional traits (FT) that can indicate HMs stress and contamination levels. In this study, we investigated the response strategies of Zea mays L. var. Limagrain 31455, widely cultivated throughout the region of Land of Fires, a critically polluted area of southern Italy, to different concentrations of Zn, Pb, and Cr, corresponding to moderate to severe soil contamination. Functional traits related to the photosynthetic machinery, including gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and reflectance indices, were examined. Root morpho-histochemical analysis were also conducted to correlate early root alterations with any observed changes in these photosynthetic traits. Results revealed distinct response patterns: tolerance to Zn, without adverse effects on photosynthetic traits; resistance to Pb, mediated by increased RD and photoprotection through change in reflectance indices; and sensitivity to Cr highlighted by severe functional impairments of all the studied photosynthetic traits and structural root damages. Functional traits, such as chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and the photochemical reflectance index or normalized difference vegetation index, demonstrated high potential for monitoring HMs stress responses; in addition, morpho-anatomical traits of the root system provided insights into biomass allocation and the capacity of var. Limagrain 31455 to tolerate and adapt to HMs stress. These findings underscore the importance of integrating physiological, anatomical, and spectral analyses to improve the biomonitoring and management of polluted soils and detecting spatial variability in contamination via remote sensing. Graphical Abstract |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1e0f36d6a7284e76aef5b4413f32f9df |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2196-5641 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj-art-1e0f36d6a7284e76aef5b4413f32f9df2025-08-20T03:47:24ZengSpringerOpenChemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture2196-56412025-06-0112111710.1186/s40538-025-00798-8Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stressLina Fusaro0Francesca Lanni1Laura Varone2Giuseppina Falasca3Silvia Serranti4Riccardo Gasbarrone5Davide Gattabria6Vincenza Cozzolino7Alessandro Piccolo8Fausto Manes9Institute of BioEconomy (IBE), National Research CouncilDepartment of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of RomeDepartment of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of RomeDepartment of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of RomeDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Materials & Environment, Sapienza University of RomeResearch and Service Center for Sustainable Technological Innovation (Ce.R.S.I.Te.S.), Sapienza University of RomeDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Materials & Environment, Sapienza University of RomeDepartment of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II”Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II”Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of RomeAbstract Heavy metals (HMs) contamination poses a significant threat to environmental matrices, particularly soil, which is essential for food security, agricultural productivity, and key ecosystem services. Understanding how crops respond to HMs is crucial for developing biomonitoring strategies to assess soil contamination and inform remediation efforts. Plants, including crops, exhibit a range of functional traits (FT) that can indicate HMs stress and contamination levels. In this study, we investigated the response strategies of Zea mays L. var. Limagrain 31455, widely cultivated throughout the region of Land of Fires, a critically polluted area of southern Italy, to different concentrations of Zn, Pb, and Cr, corresponding to moderate to severe soil contamination. Functional traits related to the photosynthetic machinery, including gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and reflectance indices, were examined. Root morpho-histochemical analysis were also conducted to correlate early root alterations with any observed changes in these photosynthetic traits. Results revealed distinct response patterns: tolerance to Zn, without adverse effects on photosynthetic traits; resistance to Pb, mediated by increased RD and photoprotection through change in reflectance indices; and sensitivity to Cr highlighted by severe functional impairments of all the studied photosynthetic traits and structural root damages. Functional traits, such as chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and the photochemical reflectance index or normalized difference vegetation index, demonstrated high potential for monitoring HMs stress responses; in addition, morpho-anatomical traits of the root system provided insights into biomass allocation and the capacity of var. Limagrain 31455 to tolerate and adapt to HMs stress. These findings underscore the importance of integrating physiological, anatomical, and spectral analyses to improve the biomonitoring and management of polluted soils and detecting spatial variability in contamination via remote sensing. Graphical Abstracthttps://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-025-00798-8Heavy metalsFunctional traitsSpectroscopyRoot morphologyChlorophyll fluorescenceMonitoring |
| spellingShingle | Lina Fusaro Francesca Lanni Laura Varone Giuseppina Falasca Silvia Serranti Riccardo Gasbarrone Davide Gattabria Vincenza Cozzolino Alessandro Piccolo Fausto Manes Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture Heavy metals Functional traits Spectroscopy Root morphology Chlorophyll fluorescence Monitoring |
| title | Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress |
| title_full | Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress |
| title_fullStr | Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress |
| title_short | Functional traits as indicators of maize (Zea mays L.) strategies to cope with Zn, Pb and Cr heavy metal-induced stress |
| title_sort | functional traits as indicators of maize zea mays l strategies to cope with zn pb and cr heavy metal induced stress |
| topic | Heavy metals Functional traits Spectroscopy Root morphology Chlorophyll fluorescence Monitoring |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-025-00798-8 |
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