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Document Type

Original Article

Subject Areas

Botany and Microbiology

Keywords

Cadmium, Heavy metals, Lead, Oil content, Silicon, Sunflower

Abstract

The present study was conducted at the Faculty of Science (Girls), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt during the growth period, from April to August (2021) to evaluate the efficiency of silicon application in improving some physiological characteristics including the photosynthetic pigments, total carbohydrate, proline and total soluble protein contents in shoots of sunflower plants grown under Pb (200 and 400 ppm) and Cd (20 and 40 ppm). Furthermore, the oil productivity and the accumulation of heavy metals in the seeds of sunflower plants were detected. In general, Pb and Cd resulted in reduced photosynthetic pigments and total soluble proteins content and this reduction was increased with increasing heavy metal concentrations in the soil. On the other hand, heavy metals application leads to a significant increment in total carbohydrate and proline contents. Data also showed a negative and depressive effect of heavy metals on the oil productivity of the seeds. Accumulation of Pb and Cd had a pronounced increase in seeds by increasing the Pb and Cd concentrations in the growth media. Foliar application of potassium silicate (100 and 200 ppm) on plants grown under normal condition or exposed to heavy metals stress observed a significant increment in all measured physiological characters. Moreover, the application of silica decreased Pb and Cd contents in seeds. It could be concluded that silicon application especially the high concentration (200 ppm) was more effective to ameliorate and mitigate the depressive effect of heavy metals contamination and caused significant increments in the oil productivity of sunflower seeds.

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