ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
This article is part of the Research TopicSustainable Agricultural Practices and Environment Protection Through Green Technology InnovationsView all 6 articles
Cerium oxide nanoparticles enhance rice productivity by modulating nitric oxide signaling, carbon metabolism, and potassium homeostasis under chromium-induced environmental stress
Provisionally accepted
Haider Sultan1Mukerrem Atalay Oral2Resat Esgici3
MOHAMMAD FAIZAN4Abdulrahman A. Alatar5Changli Zeng1
Mohammad Faisal5*- 1Jianghan University, Wuhan, China
- 2Akdeniz Universitesi, Antalya, Türkiye
- 3Dicle Universitesi, Diyarbakır, Türkiye
- 4Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India
- 5King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Chromium (Cr) contamination in agricultural soils represents a serious challenge to rice productivity and food security, underscoring the need for innovative approaches to improve Cr-tolerance and alleviate its detrimental effects on plant growth and development. Recently, nanotechnology has been increasingly used to improve the tolerance of plants exposed to metal stress. In view of the beneficial roles of nanoparticles in mitigating metal stress in plants, this study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of cerium dioxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) in alleviating Cr-induced toxicity in rice plants. Chromium stress (100 µM) and CeO2 NPs (100 ppm) were applied at the seed stage by soaking the seeds in their respective solutions for 12 h prior to sowing. Chromium stress markedly increased the contents of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) by 67%, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by 62%, superoxide anion (O2•-) by 58%, and methylglyoxal (MG) by 63% compared with control plants. In contrast, Cr stress significantly reduced the concentrations of starch (51%), sucrose synthase (49%), amylase (68%), chlorophyll (69%), and RuBisCO (67%). However, the application of CeO2 NPs markedly enhanced plant growth and biomass accumulation, alleviated oxidative stress, and stimulated antioxidant enzyme activities in rice plants subjected to Cr stress.. Overall, these results demonstrate that the application of CeO2 effectively alleviates Cr-induced stress in rice plants and offers promising prospects for advancing NP-based phytoremediation strategies..
Keywords: Carbohydrate Metabolism, Environmental protection, Nanotechnology, Seed priming, sustainable agriculture
Received: 03 Jan 2026; Accepted: 05 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Sultan, Oral, Esgici, FAIZAN, Alatar, Zeng and Faisal. 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: Mohammad Faisal
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