Protective mechanisms of neral as a plant‐derived safener against fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl injury in rice

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThe use of herbicide safeners effectively minimises crop damage while maintaining the full efficacy of herbicides. The present study aimed to assess the potential protective effects of neral (NR) as a safener, in order to mitigate injury caused by fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl (FE) on rice.RESULTSThe alleviating effect of NR was similar to that of the safener isoxadifen‐ethyl (IE). The root elongation of rice was significantly promoted under the FE + NR and FE + IE treatments, as compared to the FE treatment. The transcriptome analysis further suggested that the effects of NR treatment on plant metabolic pathways differed from those of IE treatment. In total, 895 and 47 up‐differentially expressed genes induced by NR (NR‐inducible genes) and IE (IE‐inducible genes) were identified. NR‐inducible genes were mainly enriched in phytohormone synthesis and signalling response, including ‘response to brassinosteroid’, ‘response to jasmonic acid’, ‘response to ethylene’, ‘brassinosteroid metabolic process’, ‘brassinosteroid biosynthesis’ and ‘plant hormone signal transduction’. In contrast, IE‐inducible genes were predominantly enriched in glutathione metabolism. The activity of glutathione S‐transferase was found to be increased after IE treatment, whereas no significant increase was observed following NR treatment. Moreover, several transcription factor genes, such as those encoding AP2/ERF‐ERF and (basic helix–loop–helix) bHLH were found to be significantly induced by NR treatment.CONCLUSIONThis is the first report of the utilisation of NR as an herbicide safener. The results of this study suggest the toxicity of FE to rice is mitigated by NR through a distinct mechanism compared to IE. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.