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Industrial wastewater irrigation increased higher heavy metals uptake and expansins, metacaspases, and cystatin genes expression in Parthenium and maize

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Abstract

Industrial wastewater irrigation of agricultural crops can cause a lot of environmental and health problems in developing countries due to heavy metals deposition in agricultural soils as well as edible plant consumption by human beings. Therefore, this study was conducted to find out the heavy metals concentration in industrial wastewater and soil irrigated with that wastewater. In addition, the aim was to determine the impact of industrial wastewater irrigation on Parthenium hysterophorus and Zea mays genes involved in growth improvement and inhibition. For this purpose, plant samples from agriculture fields irrigated with wastewater from Hattar Industrial Estate (HIE) of Haripur, Pakistan, and control plants from non-contaminated soil irrigated with tape water were collected after 15 and 45 days of germination. Heavy metals concentration in the collected plant samples, wastewater, and soil was determined. The results revealed that the soil of the sample collection site was predominantly contaminated with Cr, Pb, Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, and Cd up to the concentrations of 38.98, 21.14, 46.01, 155.73, 12.50, 68.50, and 7.01 mg/kg, respectively. The concentrations of these heavy metals were found to surpass the permissible limit in normal agricultural soil. Expansins, cystatins (plant growth enhancers), and metacaspases (plant growth inhibitor) gene expression were studied through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that the expression of these genes was higher in samples collected from wastewater-irrigated soils as compared to control. The expression of these genes was observed in 45 days old samples, 15 days old samples, and control. Taken together, this study suggests the use of Parthenium and maize for phytoremediation and that they should not be used for eating purposes if irrigated with industrial wastewater.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to the Researchers supporting project number (RSP-2021/219) at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Moreover, all the authors are thankful to Alexander Marcel Asghar from Nottingham, UK, for proofreading and correcting the English language of this manuscript.

Funding

We are also grateful to COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus for providing research facilities and financial assistance through CRGP no. 16-17/CRGP/ATD/17/1014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad, 22060, Pakistan

    Kinza Penzy, Imran Hussain, Sabaz Ali Khan & Rafiq Ahmad

  2. National Centre of Excellence in Geology University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25130, Pakistan

    Said Muhammad

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad, 22060, Pakistan

    Muhammad Shahzad & Arshad Mehmood Abbasi

  4. COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad campus, Abbottabad, Pakistan

    Imran Hussain

  5. Department of Weed Science and Botany, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan

    Imtiaz Khan

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  1. Kinza Penzy
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  8. Rafiq Ahmad
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Contributions

Kinza Penzy performed experiments, collected data, and wrote the original draft, Rafiq Ahmad and Said Muhammad conceived and designed the experiments, supervised the project, and revised the final version of the manuscript, Muhammad Shahzad, Sabaz Ali Khan, Imran Hussain, and Arshad Mahmood Abbasi visualize data, involved in data analysis and proofreading, Imtiaz Khan provided financial assistance, help in data analysis and final proof.

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Correspondence to Imran Hussain or Rafiq Ahmad.

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Penzy, K., Muhammad, S., Shahzad, M. et al. Industrial wastewater irrigation increased higher heavy metals uptake and expansins, metacaspases, and cystatin genes expression in Parthenium and maize. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1430 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-12028-5

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