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Lonchocarpus cultratus, a Brazilian savanna tree, endures high soil Pb levels

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Abstract

Industrial revolution markedly increased the environmental contamination by different pollutants, which include the metal lead (Pb). The phytoremediation potential of native species from tropical regions is little known, especially for woody plants. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of Lonchocarpus cultratus (Fabaceae), a tree species from the Brazilian savanna, grown in soil that was artificially contaminated with increasing Pb concentrations (control and 4 Pb treatments, 56, 120, 180, and 292 mg kg−1) for 6 months. The biomass of L. cultratus was not depressed by exposure to Pb, despite the high accumulation of this metal (up to 7421.23 μg plant−1), indicating a high plant tolerance to this trace metal. Lead was mainly accumulated in roots (from 67 to 99%), suggesting that the low root-to-shoot Pb translocation is a plant strategy to avoid Pb-induced damages in photosynthetic tissues. Accordingly, the content of chlorophylls a and b was maintained at similar levels between Pb-treated and control plants. Moreover, increments in leaf area were noticed in Pb-treated plants in comparison to the control plants (on average, 24.7%). In addition, root length was boosted in plants under Pb exposure (22.6–66.7%). In conclusion, L. cultratus is able to endure the exposure to high Pb concentrations in soil, being a potential plant species to be used for Pb phytostabilization in metal-contaminated soils in tropical regions.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Goiás – FAPEG (Grant: Call 03/2017) for the scholarship to D.G.O., to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – FAPESP (Grants: 2015/09567-9 and 2018/01498-6) for the scholarship to L.S.C., and to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (Grant: 155926/2018-7) for the scholarship to M.E.A.C. We also thank Dr. Alan C. Costa and Dr. Roberto G. Vital for the support with IRGA.

Funding

The financial support was provided by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Goiás – FAPEG (Grant: Call 03/2017), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – FAPESP (Grants: 2015/09567-9; 2018/01498-6), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (Grant: 155926/2018-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Federal Goiano, Campus Rio Verde, Rio Verde, Goiás, Brazil

    Dayane Gomes Oliveira, Higor Ferreira Silva, Alcindo Sousa Brignoni, Letícia Rigonato Lima & Lucas Anjos Souza

  2. Departamento de Genética, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”/Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Marcia Eugenia Amaral Carvalho

  3. Departamento de Biologia e Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho”, Ilha Solteira, SP, Brazil

    Liliane Santos Camargos

Authors
  1. Dayane Gomes Oliveira
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  2. Marcia Eugenia Amaral Carvalho
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  3. Higor Ferreira Silva
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  4. Alcindo Sousa Brignoni
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  5. Letícia Rigonato Lima
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  6. Liliane Santos Camargos
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  7. Lucas Anjos Souza
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Contributions

1. Lucas Anjos Souza (corresponding author): Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing - review and editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition

2. Dayane G. Oliveira (first author): Investigation, formal analysis, writing – first draft

3. Marcia E. A. Carvalho: Formal analysis, writing - original draft, visualization, writing - review and editing

4. Higor F. Silva: Investigation

5. Letícia R. Lima: Investigation

6. Alcindo Sousa Brignoni: Investigation

7. Liliane Santos Camargos: Conceptualization, formal analysis, writing - review and editing, funding acquisition

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Correspondence to Lucas Anjos Souza.

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Oliveira, .G., Carvalho, M.E.A., Silva, H.F. et al. Lonchocarpus cultratus, a Brazilian savanna tree, endures high soil Pb levels. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 50931–50940 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15856-5

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