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Effect of chitosan nanoparticles on morpho-physiological and biochemical characteristics of lemon balm plants under cadmium stress
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Mobina Mahmoudian   , Mahyar Gerami * , Hanieh Abedinpour , Roghiyeh Asgharzadeh |
| Sana Institute of Higher Education , mahyar.gerami@yahoo.com |
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Abstract: (54 Views) |
Industrialization and excessive application of fertilizers have led to widespread contamination of agricultural soils with heavy metals such as cadmium, posing a serious threat to both plant and human health. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), a medicinal plant with numerous beneficial properties, is also susceptible to cadmium pollution. Chitosan nanoparticles, due to their high biological properties and biocompatibility, are able to improve plant tolerance to environmental stresses, including cadmium stress. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of chitosan nanoparticles on the morpho-physiological and biochemical characteristics of lemon balm plants under cadmium stress. The results of this study indicated that application of chitosan nanoparticles had significant effects on morpho-physiological and biochemical characteristics of lemon balm plants under cadmium stress. Microscopic analysis showed that chitosan nanoparticles were effectively deposited on the lemon balm leaf surface and had a size of about 42-43 nm. The analysis of variance showed that the simple effects of chitosan nanoparticles and cadmium on morphological traits were significant at the 1% level, while their interaction effects on these traits were not significant. Application of chitosan nanoparticles significantly increased plant height, leaf number, fresh weight, SPAD index, lateral buds number, and root length. On the other hand, it was observed that high concentrations of cadmium treatment significantly reduced these traits. The highest plant height (16.38 cm) was observed at a concentration of 0.8 g/L chitosan, while the lowest (12.92 cm) was recorded under the 200 ppm cadmium treatment. Moreover, for biochemical traits, Results of variance analysis showed a significant interaction effect of chitosan nanoparticles and cadmium treatments on phenolic, flavonoid and Malondialdehyde (MDA) content. The results of the mean comparison showed that chitosan nanoparticles treatment increased the phenol and flavonoid content in response to cadmium stress. The highest phenolic (26.4 mg gallic acid/g) and flavonoid (35.05 mg quercetin/g) contents were observed in the combined treatment of 0.8 g/L chitosan and 200 ppm cadmium. Furthermore, increasing cadmium concentration led to higher MDA content, while treatments of chitosan nanoparticle showed a relative reduction in this trait. These results suggest that chitosan nanoparticles can mitigate the adverse effects of cadmium stress and enhance the growth and physiological characteristics of lemon balm under stress.
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Article number: 10 |
| Keywords: Nanoparticles, Lemon Balm, Cadmium, Chitosan |
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Plant
Received: 2025/11/20
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