ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Technical Advances in Plant Science
Effect of gamma irradiation on the uptake, translocation, and phytotoxicity of lead and cadmium in a soil–barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) system
Provisionally accepted
- Xinxiang University, Xinxiang city, China
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Abstract: This study investigated how gamma irradiation affects the plant growth and the migration of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) within the soil-barley system. Our results demonstrated that gamma irradiation increased root length and root-shoot ratio compared with 0 Gy, as well as increased spike length, spikelet number, and spikelet grain weight. Furthermore, 50–150 Gy gamma radiation decreased Cd and Pb contents in grains compared to 0 Gy, Moreover, gamma radiation increased root bioconcentration factor for Cd and Pb ( R-BCFCd and R-BCFPb,except for 120 Gy in Cd), while the BCFCd of the barley stem, leaf, and grain all decreased (except for 35 Gy in the leaf), Meanwhile, all gamma radiation treatments decreased translocation factor values from root to stem-leaf for Cd and Pb (R-S+L-TFCd and R-S+L-TFPb) at maturity, with a differential response observed in translocation factor values from stem-leaf to grain for Cd (S+L-G-TFCd). In addition, Pearson correlation analysis showed that the variability of Cd content in the grain was significantly and positively correlated with stem BCFCd (S-BCFCd), grain BCFCd (G-BCFCd), and R-S+L-TFCd. Pb content in the grain was significantly and positively correlated with grain BCFPb (G-BCFPb) and stem-leaf to grain for Pb (S+L-G-TFPb). Our results suggest 50–150 Gy irradiation reduces heavy metal content in grains, likely by modulating physiological responses and the plant's heavy metal transport pathways. This study offers a novel approach to low-cost pre-sowing seed treatment for mitigating grain metal contamination.
Keywords: gamma irradiation, barley, Cd–Pb contamination, Cd and Pb uptake, transportation and accumulation
Received: 22 Oct 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Hao, Ma and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaojie Wang, wxj07-04@163.com
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