Abstract
Pollution with heavy metals has become a major concern in food security. Their accumulation levels in different plants are strongly influenced by weather conditions. In this study, several series of experiments were carried out to assess the individual and combined effects of two stress factors (moisture deficit and heavy metal pollution) on morphometric parameters, physiology, and antioxidant status of sunflower plants. Drought stress significantly reduced shoot length, promoted root elongation, and caused alterations in cotyledon shape. The highest concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA), a known marker of oxidative stress, were found in the plants under drought alone and in combination with heavy metal stress. Individual stresses led to a suppression of the low-molecular-weight antioxidant system in the plants, while combined stresses activated it as a primary defense mechanism, coinciding with the decreased contents of photosynthetic pigments. Aridification (drought) intensified cadmium accumulation in the plants without any visible changes in the morphology of their aboveground biomass, but with the stimulation of root system growth through an increase in the number of lateral roots. Among the tested heavy metals, lead was the most toxic when applied individually, resulting in a linear decrease in the contents of photosynthetic pigments as its concentration in the substrate increased.
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Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
Drought significantly reduced sunflower shoot length.
- Taxon
- sunflower
Helianthus annuust0 - Treatment
- Drought stresse0
- Outcome
- shoot lengthe0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress significantly reduced shoot length”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought promoted root elongation.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- Drought stresse0
- Outcome
- root elongatione0
- Direction
- promotede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress significantly reduced shoot length, promoted root elongation”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought altered cotyledon shape.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- Drought stresse0
- Outcome
- alterations in cotyledon shapee0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress significantly reduced shoot length, promoted root elongation, and caused alterations in cotyledon shape”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Malondialdehyde was highest under drought alone.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- drought alonee0
- Outcome
- concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA)e0
- Direction
- higheste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The highest concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA), a known marker of oxidative stress, were found in the plants under drought alone and in combination with heavy metal stress”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Malondialdehyde was highest under combined drought and metal stress.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- in combination with heavy metal stresse0
- Outcome
- concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA)e0
- Direction
- higheste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The highest concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA), a known marker of oxidative stress, were found in the plants under drought alone and in combination with heavy metal stress”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Individual stresses suppressed the low-molecular-weight antioxidant system.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- Individual stressese0
- Outcome
- low-molecular-weight antioxidant systeme0
- Direction
- suppressione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Individual stresses led to a suppression of the low-molecular-weight antioxidant system in the plants”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined stresses activated the low-molecular-weight antioxidant system.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- combined stressese0
- Outcome
- low-molecular-weight antioxidant systeme1
- Direction
- activatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“combined stresses activated it as a primary defense mechanism”
t0“sunflower plants”
e1“Individual stresses led to a suppression of the low-molecular-weight antioxidant system in the plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined stresses decreased photosynthetic pigments.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- combined stressese0
- Outcome
- contents of photosynthetic pigmentse0
- Direction
- decreasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“combined stresses activated it as a primary defense mechanism, coinciding with the decreased contents of photosynthetic pigments”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought intensified cadmium accumulation.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- Aridification (drought)e0
- Outcome
- cadmium accumulatione0
- Direction
- intensifiede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Aridification (drought) intensified cadmium accumulation in the plants”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought did not visibly change aboveground biomass morphology.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- Aridification (drought)e1
- Outcome
- morphology of their aboveground biomasse0
- Direction
- without any visible changese0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“without any visible changes in the morphology of their aboveground biomass”
t0“sunflower plants”
e1“Aridification (drought) intensified cadmium accumulation in the plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased lateral root number.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- Aridification (drought)e1
- Outcome
- number of lateral rootse0
- Direction
- increasee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“stimulation of root system growth through an increase in the number of lateral roots”
t0“sunflower plants”
e1“Aridification (drought) intensified cadmium accumulation in the plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Lead was the most toxic metal when applied individually.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- leade0
- Outcome
- most toxice0
- Direction
- most toxice0
- Comparator
- tested heavy metalse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among the tested heavy metals, lead was the most toxic when applied individually”
t0“sunflower plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing lead concentration linearly decreased photosynthetic pigments.
- Taxon
- sunflowerHelianthus annuust0
- Treatment
- leade1
- Outcome
- contents of photosynthetic pigmentse0
- Direction
- decreasee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“resulting in a linear decrease in the contents of photosynthetic pigments as its concentration in the substrate increased”
t0“sunflower plants”
e1“Among the tested heavy metals, lead was the most toxic when applied individually”
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See all 20 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.