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The phytotoxicities of agricultural soil samples from a coal gangue stacking area to several maize cultivars (Zea mays L.)

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Abstract

In Shanxi, a major energy province in China, environmental pollution caused by coal gangue accumulation is becoming an increasingly serious problem. In addition, crops are the first trophic level in the human food chain, and the security and production of crops are closely related to human well-being. The objective of this study was to estimate the phytotoxicities of agricultural soil samples contaminated by coal gangue accumulation using maize (Zea mays L.) as a model organism. Finally, a tolerant maize cultivar was screened for coal gangue stacking areas. Seven cultivars of maize seeds were treated with agricultural soil leachate around the coal gangue stacking area at various concentrations of 0, 1:27, 1:9, 1:3, and 1:1. The results revealed that the agricultural soil leachate treatment could inhibit seed germination and the growth of roots and shoots and that the soil leachate-induced phytotoxicities were cultivar-dependent. At the same exposure concentration, tolerant maize cultivar displayed lower toxicity symptoms than sensitive maize cultivar in terms of growth inhibition, oxidative damage, and DNA damage. Stronger activities of antioxidant enzymes were observed in the tolerant maize cultivar than in the sensitive maize cultivar, indicating that the difference between cultivars in antioxidant capacity is one reason for the difference in plant tolerance. Our study provides experimental evidence for the ecological risk assessment of soil and the selection of maize cultivars with high environmental pollutant tolerance for use in coal gangue stacking areas.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (22076108), Shanxi Provincial Key Research and Development Project (201903D321078), and Research Project for Shanxi Young San** Scholarship of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environment and Resource, Research Center of Environment and Health, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030006, People’s Republic of China

    Fenglong Yang, Guangke Li & Nan Sang

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  1. Fenglong Yang
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  2. Guangke Li
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  3. Nan Sang
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Contributions

G. L. conceived and designed the experiments. N. S. provided much of the work for the revision of the manuscript. F. Y. drafted the manuscript and conducted the experiments. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guangke Li.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Gangrong Shi

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Highlights

• Agricultural soil leachate inhibits maize seed germination and seedling growth.

• The phytotoxicities of agricultural soil leachate are cultivar-dependent.

• O2− and H2O2 radicals lead to oxidative damage and contribute to maize growth delay.

• ROS scavenging ability leads to differences in tolerance of different maize cultivars.

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Yang, F., Li, G. & Sang, N. The phytotoxicities of agricultural soil samples from a coal gangue stacking area to several maize cultivars (Zea mays L.). Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 52319–52328 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14250-5

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