Efficacy of Ascorbic Acid Coated Quantum Dots in Alleviating Lead-Induced Oxidative Damage and Enhancing Growth Parameters in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) for Sustainable Cultivation

The toxic effects of lead (Pb) on plants, animals, and humans have made it a subject of interest for environmental scientists. Recent literature has shown how Pb affects the morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes of rice. Therefore, it is important to mitigate Pb stress to restore rice agro-morphological traits and yield. For that purpose, current study involved growth of two cultivars of Japonica rice (JP-5) and Indica rice (Super Basmati) grown in pots under Pb stress (50 mg/kg) as lead chloride and the application of ascorbic acid coated quantum dots (AsA-QDs) in two suspensions (50 ppm and 100 ppm) to mitigate the stress. Pb stress declined T/P, GY, TKW, protein, TPC, and TAC by 11.11%, 18.22%, 18.22%, 40.19%, 59.66%, and 17.75% respectively in JP-5. These traits were recovered by 33.33% (T/P), 5.73% (GY), 2.03% (protein), and 13.19% (TPC) in Pb*QD1 treatment. Whereas in SB, Pb concentrations reduced PH, T/P, BY, GY, TKW, total sugars, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, starch, proteins, and TPC by 19.76%, 21.43%, 11.01, 11.01%, 7.52%, 38.09%, 7.24%, 13.96%, 11.97%, and 40.39% respectively. These traits were recovered by 14.29% (T/P), 15.49% (GY), 9.25% (total sugars), 109.52% (reducing sugars), 8.31% (non-reducing sugars), 31.72% (starch), 25.91% (proteins), and 7.075% TPC in Pb*QD1 treatment. It is recommended that AsA-QDs can be used as potential sources to remediate Pb toxicity in crops for sustainable growth development.