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Physiological and morphoanatomical effects of glyphosate in Eugenia uniflora, a Brazilian plant species native to the Atlantic Forest biome

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Abstract

The herbicide glyphosate can cause severe ecotoxicological effects on non-target organisms. Eugenia uniflora L. (Myrtaceae) is very important for in situ environmental biomonitoring due to its wide distribution in the Atlantic Forest biome. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the response of E. uniflora leaves to glyphosate. Eight-month-old plants were exposed to an aerial application of the herbicide at concentrations of 0, 144, 432, 864, and 1440 g a. e. ha−1 (grams of acid equivalent per hectare). Evaluations were performed on the 12th day after the glyphosate application (DAA). An accumulation of shikimic acid in the leaves of E. uniflora was observed. Glyphosate altered the photosynthetic parameters of the treated plants, with a drastic decrease in the photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and pigment content. There was an increase in Ci/Ca, lipid peroxidation, and electrolyte extravasation levels. Glyphosate also promoted ultrastructural, anatomical and visible damage to the E. uniflora leaves. Our findings indicate that glyphosate is phytotoxic to the native species E. uniflora at the tested doses. The presence of visible damage suggests that E. uniflora has remarkable potential as a bioindicator of glyphosate in the environment, making it a possible species for future biomonitoring projects.

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Data availability

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

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Acknowledgments

L. C. Silva thanks the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the Research Productivity Scholarship 309308/2018-6. The authors also thank the Departamento de Física of Universidade Federal de Viçosa for the scanning electron microscopy support.

Funding

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES—Finance code 001). Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) granted a scholarship to Carlos Eduardo Souza Cruz during the research development and granted the Research Productivity Scholarship 309308/2018-6 to Luzimar Campos da Silva.

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  1. Carlos Eduardo Souza Cruz and Larisse de Freitas-Silva contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Vicosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Carlos Eduardo Souza Cruz, Cleberson Ribeiro & Luzimar Campos da Silva

  2. Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Cruz das Almas, BA, 44380-000, Brazil

    Larisse de Freitas-Silva

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  1. Carlos Eduardo Souza Cruz
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CESC, LFS, CR, and LCS conceived and designed the research. CES conducted the experiments; CESC and LFS conducted the biochemical analyses. CESC, LFS, CR, and LCS discussed the results. LFS wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luzimar Campos da Silva.

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Cruz, C.E.S., de Freitas-Silva, L., Ribeiro, C. et al. Physiological and morphoanatomical effects of glyphosate in Eugenia uniflora, a Brazilian plant species native to the Atlantic Forest biome. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 21334–21346 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12003-4

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