In Vitro Culture Studies for the Mitigation of Heavy Metal Stress in Plants

Abstract

Heavy metals are among the most common and dangerous contaminants; their action on plants, as well as the possibility for plants to effectively absorb and translocate them, have been studied for several years, mainly for exploitation in phytoremediation, an environmentally friendly and potentially effective technology proposed and studied for the recovery of contaminated soils and waters. In this work, the analysis has focused on the studies developed using in vitro techniques on the possibilities of mitigating, in plants, the stress due to the presence of heavy metals and/or improving their absorption. These objectives can be pursued with the use of different substances and organisms, which have been examined in detail. The following are therefore presented in this review: an analysis of the role of metals and metalloids; the use of several plant growth regulators, with their mechanisms of action in different physiological phases of the plant; the activity of bacteria and fungi; and the role of other effective compounds, such as ascorbic acid and glutathione.

Indirect Estimation of Heavy Metal Contamination in Rice Soil Using Spectral Techniques

“…In the soil-crop system, heavy metals migrate from the soil and accumulate in the crop. When the concentration of heavy metals in the soil increases, the content of heavy metals in different parts of rice usually increases as well, resulting in a stress effect [ 43 ]. As the stress of heavy metals in rice increases, some of the cellular structures are damaged, resulting in a decrease in chlorophyll content, which is reflected in differences in leaf spectra [ 44 , 45 ].…”