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Inoculation of Exogenous Complex Bacteria to Enhance Resistance in Alfalfa and Combined Remediation of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soil

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Abstract

Heavy metals are considered to be one of the main sources of soil contamination. In this study, three tolerant bacteria were isolated from the heavy metal-contaminated soil in mining area, and immobilized bacteria were constructed using corn straw as the carrier. The combined remediation effect of immobilized bacteria and alfalfa in pot experiments was explored in heavy metal-contaminated soil. Under heavy metal stress, inoculation with immobilized bacteria significantly promoted the growth of alfalfa, in which the dry weights of roots, stems, and leaves increased by 19.8, 6.89, and 14.6%, respectively (P < 0.05). Also, inoculation with immobilized bacteria improved the antioxidant capacity of plants and the activity of soil enzymes and improved soil quality (P < 0.05). Microbial-phytoremediation technology effectively reduced the heavy metal content in the soil, and can restore the soil contaminated by heavy metals. The results will help to further understand the mechanism of microbial inoculation to reduce the toxicity of heavy metals, and provide guidance for the cultivation of forage grasses in heavy metal-contaminated soils.

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Data Availability

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

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers NSFC 31860176, 32171611, and 32101415), Key Research and Development Program of Gansu Province (20YF3FA037, 22JR5RA454, and 22JR5RA262), Key Research and Development Program of Shanxi Province (2020ZDLSF06-06, 2021JQ-791, and XAWLKYTD012). We are grateful to all reviewers whose comments improved the quality of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Tianpeng Gao and Yuan Liu have contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biology and Environmental Engineering, Xi’an University, Xi an, 710000, China

    Tianpeng Gao, Yuan Liu, Xiaoxiao Liu, Mingbo Zuo, Jingting Bao, Yuanyuan Shen & Jing Xu

  2. School of Biology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Deng Yang, Yueqing He & Haoming Wang

  3. Engineering Center for Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Mining of Gansu Province, Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Tianpeng Gao & Xisheng Tai

  4. School of Life Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Jingting Bao

  5. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Danghui Xu

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  1. Tianpeng Gao
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Contributions

TG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Visualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, and Writing—review & editing. YL: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, and Investigation & editing. DY: Methodology, Investigation, and Writing—original draft. XL: Methodology and Investigation. MZ: Conceptualization and Validation. YH: Writing—original draft and Validation. HW: Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, and Supervision. JB: Validation, Visualization, Writing—Original Draft, and Formal analysis. YS: Validation. XT: Validation. DX: Methodology and Formal analysis. JX: Validation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All of the authors have read and approved the manuscript. This work has not been published previously, nor it is being considered by any other peer-reviewed journal.

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Correspondence to Tianpeng Gao.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 (TIF 281 kb)—Supplementary Figure 1 Geographical location of sampling site

284_2023_3299_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary file2 (TIF 271 kb)—Supplementary Figure 2 Growth status of strains L1, L2 and L3 on the solid medium (Left: L1; Middle: L2; Light: L3)

284_2023_3299_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary file3 (TIF 4024 kb)—Supplementary Figure 3 Phylogenetic tree of three resistant bacteria (a: L1, b: L2, and c: L3)

Supplementary file4 (TIF 796 kb)—Supplementary Figure 4 Fixed proportion of complex flora under different ratios

Supplementary file5 (TIF 796 kb)—Supplementary Figure 5 Fixed proportion of complex flora under different ratios

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Gao, T., Liu, Y., Yang, D. et al. Inoculation of Exogenous Complex Bacteria to Enhance Resistance in Alfalfa and Combined Remediation of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soil. Curr Microbiol 80, 213 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-023-03299-9

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