Treatment of winter rye (Secale cereale L.) seeds with thidiazuron mitigates the toxic response of seedlings to short-term treatment with a herbicide, paraquat

• Published in: Acta physiologiae plantarum 2023-06, Vol.45 (6), Article 78
• Main Authors: Lukatkin, Alexander S., Semenova, Alina S., Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chlorophyll; Cytokinins; Fluorescence; Growth regulators; Herbicides; Hydrogen peroxide; Hydroponics; Leaves; Life Sciences; Lipid peroxidation; Lipids; Original Article; Paraquat; Peroxidation; Photosynthetic apparatus; Physiological responses; Plant Anatomy/Development; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant growth; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Pretreatment; Rye; Secale cereale; Seedlings; Seeds; Thidiazuron; Toxicity
• ISSN: 0137-5881; 1861-1664
• DOI: 10.1007/s11738-023-03565-0

Winter rye ( Secale cereale L. cv. Rushnik) seeds were treated with thidiazuron (TDZ; 0.01–10 nmol/L), a plant growth regulator (PGR) with cytokinin-like activity, and grown hydroponically for 7 days. The aim of pretreatment with TDZ was to try and mitigate herbicide-induced stress in winter rye plants. The leaves of 7-days-old seedlings were sprayed with 100 μM of paraquat (PQ), a herbicide, and biochemical and physiological responses were assessed after 4 or 8 h in fully developed leaves. After 8 h, PQ treatment significantly increased H 2 O 2 and lipid peroxidation levels (39% increase for both relative to 0 h) as well as APOX activity (35% increase), but significantly decreased total antioxidant activity (33% decrease) and photosynthetic apparatus activity (up to 38% decrease), as assessed by chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. Pretreatment with TDZ weakened the toxic effects of PQ on rye seedlings, especially 8 h after PQ treatment. This was most evident for low doses (0.01 to 1 nmol/L) of TDZ. An index of efficiency indicated that 0.1 nmol/L TDZ was the most effective concentration to reduce the toxic effect of PQ on winter rye seedlings. This research provides fundamental information about the practical use of TDZ as a means to diminish the toxic effects of a herbicide (PQ) on cultivated winter rye plants.