Original research article
The Effect of Bio-Fertilizers and Phosphorus on Physiological Characteristics, Antioxidant Enzymes Activity and the Essential Oil Content of Green Mint (Mentha spicata L.) under Arsenic Stress Condition
2023, 88 (4) p. 307-315
Jamal Hekmati, Yousef Hamidoghli, Behrooz Esmaielpour, Mahmood Ghasemnezhad
Abstract
Arsenic is one of the toxic heavy metals for plant growth and development. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effects of phosphorus and bio-phosphate fertilizers to suppress the harmful effects of arsenic on green mint growth and development. Green mint plants were grown under arsenic stress conditions (0, 50, and 100 mg kg-1 soil) and after that treated with the bio- phosphate (0 and 50 mg/kg) and phosphate (0, 50, 100, and 150 mg kg-1 soil) fertilizer. The results showed that arsenic stress significantly reduced growth characteristics, so with increasing arsenic content the harmful effects on morphological and physiological characteristics increased. The incorporation of bio-phosphate and phosphorus fertilizers suppressed the negative impact of the arsenic stress and improved leaves number, plant height, leaf area, root, shoot fresh and dry weight. The activity of antioxidant enzymes, proline content and essential oil percentage was increased with the application of phosphorous and bio-phosphate fertilizers under arsenic stress. The average activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes in the treated plants with phosphate and bio-phosphate fertilizers was significantly higher than the control. Furthermore, the application of phosphorous increased the activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes from about 3 to 3.5 times and about 2.3 to 2.5 times more than the control, respectively, under arsenic stress conditions.
Keywords
essential oil percentage, polluting, plant growth, phosphate fertilizer
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