Phytoremediation of Meta-Cresol by Sunflower: Tolerance of Plant and Removal of M-Cresol

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Abstract
Meta-cresol (m-cresol) is highly corrosive and toxic, and is widely present in industrial wastewater. As a pollutant, it adversely affects various aspects of human production and daily life. To evaluate the feasibility of using sunflowers to remediate m-cresol-contaminated wastewater, this study used Helianthus annuus L. as the test subject to analyze its tolerance and the wastewater purification efficiency under different m-cresol concentrations. The results showed that the net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs), and light energy utilization efficiency (LUE) of Helianthus annuus L. exhibited an overall decreasing trend, while the intercellular CO2 concentration (Cᵢ) initially increased and subsequently decreased with increasing m-cresol concentration. When m-cresol concentration reached or exceeded 60 mg·L−1, the net photosynthetic rate and intercellular CO2 concentration in the leaves showed opposite trends with further increases in m-cresol stress. The inhibition of net photosynthesis in sunflowers by m-cresol was mainly attributed to non-stomatal factors. The maximum photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII), photochemical quenching coefficient (qP), PSII excitation energy partition coefficient (α), and the fraction of absorbed light energy used for photochemistry (P) all decreased with increasing m-cresol concentration. In contrast, non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), the quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation [Y(NPQ)], and the fraction of energy dissipated as heat through the antenna (D) first increased and then decreased. Under low-concentration m-cresol stress, sunflowers protected their photosynthetic system by dissipating excess light energy as heat as a stress response. However, high concentrations of m-cresol caused irreversible damage to Photosystem II (PSII) in sunflowers. Under m-cresol stress, chlorophyll a exhibited strong stability with minimal degradation. As the m-cresol concentration increased from 30 to 180 mg·L−1, the removal rate decreased from 84.91% to 11.84%. In conclusion, sunflowers show good remediation potential for wastewater contaminated with low concentrations of m-cresol and can be used for treating m-cresol wastewater with concentrations ≤ 51.9 mg·L−1.
Funding Information
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700553)
  • Key Technologies and Products for the Prevention and Control of Pine Wood Nematode Disease in Mount (2022TSGS001-5-2)

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