Morpho-anatomical adaptations of dominantly grown wild Datura inoxia to wastewater resource: Productivity and ecological issues

Abstract

With the increasing global water scarcity, wastewater irrigation has become widespread, but it can have detrimental ecological consequences. Although wastewater contains valuable nutrients for plants, improper treatment or the use of untreated wastewater in irrigation can negatively impact soil fertility and plant growth. This study is divided into two parts: firstly, a phytosociological survey was conducted to identify plant species with the highest importance value index (IVI) in the vicinity of wastewater-irrigated areas. Secondly, a comparative morpho-anatomical analysis was carried out to investigate the morpho-anatomical adaptations of the species with the highest IVI under wastewater irrigation compared to normal water irrigation. The results of the phytosociological survey revealed the presence of 51 plant species in the vicinity of the wastewater-irrigated areas, with varying relative densities and coverage. Datura inoxia exhibited the highest IVI (28.79), followed by Xanthium strumarium (24.34), while Lippia nodiflora showed the lowest IVI (1.86). The morphological growth of D. inoxia was superior under normal water irrigation, but the average root length was greater under wastewater irrigation. Regarding cell anatomy, cell thickness and cell area characteristics in the dermal, ground, and vascular tissues of the stem and root tended to be greater under wastewater treatment. However, the opposite trend was observed in leaf anatomical analysis, possibly due to the combined effect of wastewater and climatic conditions. Stem and root xylem thickness were greater under wastewater irrigation, whereas phloem thickness was higher under normal water irrigation. The number of vascular bundles in the stem, root, and leaf was higher under wastewater treatment compared to normal water irrigation, but their arrangement was circular in the latter and scattered under wastewater irrigation. Datura inoxia demonstrated strong adaptive potential under wastewater irrigation, as indicated by its highest relative density, coverage, and IVI, suggesting its suitability for phytoremediation. However, due to the low relative density, coverage, and IVI of many other species, the use of untreated wastewater for irrigation cannot be appreciated.

Keywords

Water pollution / Phytosociology / Structural growth / Phytoremediation / Agricultural irrigation / Ecological concerns

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Taimoor Hassan Farooq: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Software, Writing – review & editing. Shagufta Jabeen: Methodology, Investigation, Writing – original draft. Awais Shakoor: Writing – review & editing. Muhammad Saleem Arif: Writing – review & editing. Nadia Siddique: Methodology, Software. Khuram Shahzad: Writing – review & editing. Muhammad Umair Riaz: Methodology, Investigation. Yong Li: Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by Central South University of Forestry and Technology Research Funding (70702-45200003), and Scientific Research Foundation of Hunan Provincial Education Department (70702-22200007).

References

N. Ababsa, M. Kribaa, L. Tamrabet, D. Addad, V. Hallaire, A. Ouldjaoui. Long-term effects of wastewater reuse on hydro physicals characteristics of grassland grown soil in semiarid Algeria. J. King Saud Univ. Sci., 32 (1) (2020), pp. 1004-1013

M. Ahsan, A. Younis, M.J. Jaskani, A. Tufail, A. Riaz, T. Schwinghamer, U. Tariq, F. Nawaz. Heavy metal accumulation imparts structural differences in fragrant rosa species irrigated with marginal quality water. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf., 159 (2018), pp. 240-248

M.S. Aman, M. Jafari, M.K. Reihan, B. Motesharezadeh, S. Zare. Assessing the effect of industrial wastewater on soil properties and physiological and nutritional responses of Robinia pseudoacacia, Cercis siliquastrum and Caesalpinia gilliesii seedlings. J. Environ. Manage., 217 (2018), pp. 718-726

S. Anwar, M.F. Nawaz, S. Gul, M. Rizwan, S. Ali, A. Kareem. Uptake and distribution of minerals and heavy metals in commonly grown leafy vegetable species irrigated with sewage water. Environ. Monit. Assess., 188 (9) (2016), pp. 1-9

F. Aziz, M. Farissi. Reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture: solving water deficit problems in arid areas. Ann. West Univ. Timiş., Ser. Biol., 17 (2) (2014), p. 95

B. Bratina, A. Šorgo, J. Kramberger, U. Ajdnik, L.F. Zemljič, J. Ekart, R. Šafarič. From municipal/industrial wastewater sludge and FOG to fertilizer: A proposal for economic sustainable sludge management. J. Environ. Manage., 183 (2016), pp. 1009-1025

A. Bretzler, L. Stolze, J. Nikiema, F. Lalanne, E. Ghadiri, M.S. Brennwald, M. Rolle, M. Schirmer. Hydrogeochemical and multi-tracer investigations of arsenic-affected aquifers in semi-arid West Africa. Geosci. Front., 10 (5) (2019), pp. 1685-1699

Bryndina, L., Korchagina, A., 2021. Utilization of wastewater pollution in plant growth biostimulants. In: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 875, No. 1, p. 012003). IOP Publishing.

R.L. Chaney, Y.M. Li, S.L. Brown, F.A. Homer, M. Malik, J.S. Angle, A.J. Baker, R.D. Reeves, M. Chin. Improving metal hyperaccumulator wild plants to develop commercial phytoextraction systems: approaches and progress. N. Terry, G.S. Banuelos (Eds.), Phytoremediation of Contaminated Soil and Water, CRC Press (2020), pp. 129-158

R. Connor, A. Renata, C. Ortigara, E. Koncagül, S. Uhlenbrook, B.M. Lamizana-Diallo, S.M. Zadeh, M. Qadir, M. Kjellén, J. Sjödin, S. Hendry. The united nations world water development report. Wastewater: the untapped resource. The United Nations World Water Development Report (2017)

G. Crini, E. Lichtfouse. Advantages and disadvantages of techniques used for wastewater treatment. Environ. Chem. Lett., 17 (1) (2019), pp. 145-155

X. Ding, Y. Jiang, H. Zhao, D. Guo, L. He, F. Liu, Q. Zhou, D. Nandwani, D. Hui, J. Yu. Electrical conductivity of nutrient solution influenced photosynthesis, quality, and antioxidant enzyme activity of pakchoi (Brassica campestris L. ssp. Chinensis) in a hydroponic system. PloS ONE, 13 (8) (2018), p. e0202090

A.M.I. El-Gamal, M.M. El-Sheikh Aly, F.A.A. El-Emary. Effect of wastewater irrigation on anatomical structure of faba bean plant (Vicia faba L.). Arch. Agri. Sci.J. (2022), pp. 9-20

J.H. Ensink, T. Mahmood, W. van der Hoek, L. Raschid-Sally, F.P. Amerasinghe. A nationwide assessment of wastewater use in Pakistan: An obscure activity or a vitally important one?. Water Policy, 6 (3) (2004), pp. 197-206

A. Eziz, Z. Yan, D. Tian, W. Han, Z. Tang, J. Fang. Drought effect on plant biomass allocation: A meta-analysis. Ecol. Evol., 7 (24) (2017), pp. 11002-11010

T.H. Farooq, M.F. Nawaz, M. Qasid, A. Shakoor, I. Ahmad, S. Gul, K. Shahzad, X. Chen. Divergent consequences of bio-resources on morphological plasticity and biochemical responses in early-stage leguminous species: Sustainable productivity approaches. Geosci. Front., 14 (2023), Article 101660

S. Ghelich, F. Zarinkamar. Histological and ultrastructure changes in Medicago sativa in response to lead stress. J. Pharm. Phytochem., 2 (2013), pp. 20-29

I.N. Gostin. Air pollution effects on the leaf structure of some Fabaceae species. Not. Bot. Horti Agrobot. Cluj-Napoca, 37 (2) (2009), pp. 57-63

S. Hajihashemi, S. Mbarki, M. Skalicky, F. Noedoost, M. Raeisi, M. Brestic. Effect of wastewater irrigation on photosynthesis, growth, and anatomical features of two wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.). Water, 12 (2) (2020), p. 607

N.A. Harriman. Flora of Pakistan. Econ. Bot., 58 (4) (2004), p. 742

H.A. Hashem, R.A. Hassanein, M.H. El-Deep, A.I. Shouman. Irrigation with industrial wastewater activates antioxidant system and osmoprotectant accumulation in lettuce, turnip and tomato plants. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf., 95 (2013), pp. 144-152

Z. He, C. Yuan, P. Chen, Z. Rong, T. Peng, T.H. Farooq, G. Wang, W. Yan, J. Wang. Soil microbial community composition and diversity analysis under different land use patterns in Taojia River Basin. Forests, 14 (5) (2023), p. 1004

E.J. Hewitt. metal interrelationships in plant nutrition: I. Effects of some metal toxicities on sugar beet, tomato, oat, potato, and marrowstem kale grown in sand culture. J. Exp. Bot., 4 (1) (1953), pp. 59-64

Hussain, Z., 2018. Pakistan likely to face water crisis. Dawn, https://www.dawn.com/news/1398034.

M. Ilyas, W. Ahmad, H. Khan, S. Yousaf, M. Yasir, A. Khan. Environmental and health impacts of industrial wastewater effluents in Pakistan: Areview. Rev. Environ. Health, 34 (2) (2019), pp. 171-186

M.F. Jaramillo, I. Restrepo. Wastewater reuse in agriculture: A review about its limitations and benefits. Sustainability, 9 (10) (2017), p. 1734

S. Khalid, M. Shahid, I. Bibi, T. Sarwar, A.H. Shah, N.K. Niazi. A review of environmental contamination and health risk assessment of wastewater use for crop irrigation with a focus on low and high-income countries. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 15 (5) (2018), p. 895

S. Khalid, M. Shahid, A.H. Shah, F. Saeed, M. Ali, S.A. Qaisrani, C. Dumat. Heavy metal contamination and exposure risk assessment via drinking groundwater in Vehari, Pakistan. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 27 (32) (2020), pp. 39852-39864

S. Khan, A. Sajad, M. Khan, S. Ali, H. Ali, A. Naeem. Phytoremediation of nickel from the effluents of selected ghee industries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. JBES, 6 (2015), pp. 174-182

H. Kominko, K. Gorazda, Z. Wzorek. Effect of sewage sludge-based fertilizers on biomass growth and heavy metal accumulation in plants. J. Environ. Manage., 305 (2022), Article 114417

J.P. Levitt, J.R. Degnan, S.M. Flanagan, B.C. Jurgens. Arsenic variability and groundwater age in three water supply wells in southeast New Hampshire. Geosci. Front., 10 (5) (2019), pp. 1669-1683

J. Liu, J. Du, X. Yu. Submarine groundwater discharge enhances primary productivity in the Yellow Sea, China: Insight from the separation of fresh and recirculated components. Geosci. Front., 12 (6) (2021), Article 101204

Z. Liu, S.R. Smith. Enzyme recovery from biological wastewater treatment. Waste  Biomass Valori., 12 (8) (2021), pp. 4185-4211

Z. Liu, K.Q. Tran. A review on disposal and utilization of phytoremediation plants containing heavy metals. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf., 226 (2021), Article 112821

H.C.D. Melo, E.M.D. Castro, Â.M. Soares, L.A.D. Melo, J.D. Alves. Anatomical and physiological alterations in Setaria anceps Stapf ex Massey and Paspalum paniculatum L. under water deficit conditions. Hoehnea, 34 (2007), pp. 145-153

S.A. Mori, B.M. Boom, A.M. de Carvalino. Ecological importance of Myrtaceae in an eastern Brazilian wet forest. Biotropica, 15 (1) (1983), pp. 68-70

I. Mukherjee, U.K. Singh. Environmental fate and health exposures of the geogenic and anthropogenic contaminants in potable groundwater of Lower Ganga Basin, India. Geosci. Front., 13 (3) (2022), Article 101365

Murtaza, G., Zia, M.H., 2012. Wastewater production, treatment and use in Pakistan. In: Second regional workshop of the project 'safe use of wastewater in agriculture. Faisalabad, Pakistan: University of Agriculture, pp.16-18.

D. Pedretti, S. Luoma, T. Ruskeeniemi, B. Backman. A geologically-based approach to map arsenic risk in crystalline aquifers: Analysis of the Tampere region, Finland. Geosci. Front., 10 (5) (2019), pp. 1731-1741

L.A. Richards, D.J. Lapworth, D. Magnone, D.C. Gooddy, L. Chambers, P.J. Williams, B.E. van Dongen, D.A. Polya. Dissolved organic matter tracers reveal contrasting characteristics across high arsenic aquifers in Cambodia: A fluorescence spectroscopy study. Geosci. Front., 10 (5) (2019), pp. 1653-1667

Salam, M.M.A., Ruhui, W., Sinkkonen, A., Pappinen, A., Pulkkinen, P., 2022. Effects of contaminated soil on the survival and growth performance of European (Populus tremula L.) and Hybrid Aspen (Populus tremula L.× Populus tremuloides Michx.) clones based on stand density. Plants 11(15), 1970.

K. Saleem, M.A. Asghar, A. Raza, H.H. Javed, T.H. Farooq, M.A. Ahmad, A. Rahman, A. Ullah, B. Song, J. Du, F. Xu. Biochar-mediated control of metabolites and other physiological responses in water-stressed Leptocohloa fusca. Metabolites, 13 (4) (2023), p. 511

G. Saxena, R. Chandra, R.N. Bharagava. Environmental pollution, toxicity profile and treatment approaches for tannery wastewater and its chemical pollutants. Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 240 (2016), pp. 31-69

A.H. Shah, M. Shahid, S. Khalid, Z. Shabbir, H.F. Bakhat, B. Murtaza, A. Farooq, M. Akram, G.M. Shah, W. Nasim, N.K. Niazi. Assessment of arsenic exposure by drinking well water and associated carcinogenic risk in peri-urban areas of vehari, Pakistan. Environ. Geochem. Health., 42 (1) (2020), pp. 121-133

M. Shahid, E. Pinelli, C. Dumat. Tracing trends in plant physiology and biochemistry: Need of databases from genetic to kingdom level. Plant Physiol. Biochem., 127 (2018), pp. 630-635

M. Shahid, M. Nadeem, H.F. Bakhat. Environmental toxicology and associated human health risks. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 27 (32) (2020), pp. 39671-39675

M. Shahid, S. Khalid, B. Murtaza, H. Anwar, A.H. Shah, A. Sardar, Z. Shabbir, N.K. Niazi. A critical analysis of wastewater use in agriculture and associated health risks in Pakistan. Environ. Geochem. Health, 45 (2023), pp. 5599-5618

P. Sharma, H.H. Ngo, S. Khanal, C. Larroche, S.H. Kim, A. Pandey. Efficiency of transporter genes and proteins in hyperaccumulator plants for metals tolerance in wastewater treatment: Sustainable technique for metal detoxification. Environ. Technol. Innov., 23 (2021), Article 101725

R. Sial, M. Chaudhary, S. Abbas, M. Latif, A. Khan. Quality of effluents from hattar industrial estate. J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci., 7 (12) (2006), pp. 974-980

B.M. Sridhar, S.V. Diehl, F.X. Han, D.L. Monts, Y. Su. Anatomical changes due to uptake and accumulation of Zn and Cd in indian mustard (Brassica juncea). Environ. Exp. Bot., 54 (2) (2005), pp. 131-141

K. Stenchly, J. Dao, D.J.P. Lompo, A. Buerkert. Effects of waste water irrigation on soil properties and soil fauna of spinach fields in a West African urban vegetable production system. Environ. Pollut., 222 (2017), pp. 58-63

Y. Sun, F. Ren, J. Liu, N. Shi, H. Wang, X. You. Evaluation of wastewater pollution and treatment efficiencies in China during urbanization based on dynamic exogenous variable data envelopment analysis. Front. Environ. Sci., 9 (2021), Article 585718

A.L. Thebo, P. Drechsel, E.F. Lambin, K.L. Nelson. A global, spatially-explicit assessment of irrigated croplands influenced by urban wastewater flows. Environ. Res. Lett., 12 (7) (2017), Article 074008

UNESCO, 2017. World Water Assessment Programme. The United Nations world water development report 2017: Wastewater: The untapped resource; facts and figures.

P.O. Uaboi-Egbenni, P.N. Okolie, O.E. Adejuyitan, A.O. Sobande, O. Akinyemi. Effect of industrial effluents on the growth and anatomical structures of Abelmoschus esculentus (okra). Afr. J. Biotechnol., 8 (14) (2009), pp. 3251-3260

S. Uzma, A. Azizullah, R. Bibi, F. Nabeela, U. Muhammad, I. Ali, Z.U. Rehman, D.P. Häder. Effects of industrial wastewater on growth and biomass production in commonly grown vegetables. Environ. Monit. Assess., 188 (6) (2016), pp. 1-13

C. Yuan, S. Liang, X. Wu, T.H. Farooq, T. Liu, Y. Hu, G. Wang, J. Wang, W. Yan. Land use changes influence the soil enzymatic activity and nutrient status in the polluted taojia river basin in sub-tropical China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19 (21) (2022), p. 13999

Y. Zhang, Y. Shen. Wastewater irrigation: past, present, and future. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Water, 6 (3) (2019), p. 1234

Y. Zhao, J. Han, B. Zhang, J. Gong. Impact of transferred water on the hydrochemistry and water quality of surface water and groundwater in baiyangdian lake, North China. Geosci. Front., 12 (3) (2021), Article 101086

M.H. Zia, M.J. Watts, A. Niaz, D.R. Middleton, A. Kim. Health risk assessment of potentially harmful elements and dietary minerals from vegetables irrigated with untreated wastewater, Pakistan. Environ. Geochem. Health, 39 (4) (2017), pp. 707-728