Vanadium Toxicity Induced Changes in Growth, Antioxidant Profiling, and Vanadium Uptake in Pepper (Capsicum annum L.) Seedlings

Heavy metal contamination is one of the current serious environmental and agricultural soil issues, and it is mainly due to anthropogenic activities. Vanadium (V) is found in low concentrations in a wide range of plants and is widely distributed in soils. The current study aimed to determine how pepper seedlings responded to various V concentrations, as well as the detrimental effects of V on growth, root morphological traits, photosynthetic performance, reactive oxygen species (ROS), osmolytes production, antioxidant enzyme activities, and V uptake. Pepper seedlings (5 weeks old) were grown in hydroponic culture with six V levels (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mg L-1 NH4VO3). After two weeks of V treatment, low level of V (10, 20 mg L-1) enhanced the growth status, conversely higher V (30, 40, and 50 mg L-1) level reduced the growth. The leaf gas exchange elements, pigments molecules, and root growth characteristics are also affected by higher V concentrations. Moreover, V uptake was higher in roots than in the shoot of pepper seedlings. Similarly, osmolytes content, ROS production, and antioxidant enzymes activities were significantly improved under V stress. Concluding, lower V (10, 20 mg L-1) concentration positively affected pepper growth, and higher V (30, 40, and 50 mg L-1) concentration had a detrimental effect on pepper physiological and biochemical mechanisms.

Automated summary

Heavy metal contamination, mainly caused by anthropogenic activities, is a serious environmental and agricultural soil issue. This study investigated the effects of different concentrations of vanadium (V) on pepper seedlings, including growth, root traits, photosynthetic performance, reactive oxygen species (ROS), osmolytes production, antioxidant enzyme activities, and V uptake. The results showed that lower V concentrations positively affected pepper growth, while higher concentrations had a detrimental effect on physiological and biochemical mechanisms.