3rd Edition Of Plant Science and Molecular Biology World Conference 2026

Abstract

Microplastic and heavy metals are ubiquitous co-contaminant in agriculture which leads synergistic toxicity in chickpea plants (Kumar et al. 2026). This study investigated endophyte role to mitigate the stress alleviation in chickpea plant due to heavy metal and microplastic (polyethylene). Chickpea seedlings were exposed to combined stress of polyethylene and heavy metal with or without endophyte. Anti-oxidant enzyme activity, oxidative stress marker (ROS), growth and photosynthetic parameter were evaluated. Synergistic toxicity of heavy metals (Cd and Pb) and polyethylene microplastic (PE-MP) significantly induced oxidative damage in Cicer plants, as demonstrated by increased malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (𝐻2𝑂2) contents, which indicate increased membrane lipid peroxidation and accumulation of ROS (Kadac-Czapska et al. 2024). Stress condition leads to stunted growth and decline in chlorophyll pigments, showing a reduction in plant growth and photosynthetic efficiency. Proline accumulation significantly increased, indicating that cellular and osmotic defense mechanisms were activated. Furthermore, Stress significantly changed the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as peroxidase (POD/APX), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) (Wang et al. 2025). Interestingly, endophyte inoculation improved antioxidant defense responses, decreased oxidative damage, and enhanced physiological performance in chickpea thereby mitigating the negative impacts of combined stress. Histochemical ROS staining further confirmed reduced ROS accumulation in endophyte-treated plants under stress conditions (Sahu et al. 2022).
The findings suggest that endophytes are essential for improving stress tolerance and preserving cellular redox equilibrium when heavy metal and microplastic toxicity coexist. This study emphasizes how beneficial endophytes may be used as long-term biological instruments to increase crop resilience to new environmental contaminants.