Substrate-mediated oxidative stress alleviation and rhizosphere microbiome modulation enable submerged macrophyte restoration in high-turbidity water
Abstract
IntroductionEcological restoration of submerged macrophytes in highly turbid waters is severely hampered by light attenuation, which imposes significant oxidative stress on plants and disrupts their physiological homeostasis. While suspended planting technology offers a solution by optimizing light exposure, the critical role of planting substrates in modulating plant stress tolerance and rhizosphere resilience remains largely unexplored—a knowledge gap that this study addresses for the first time. This study is novel in systematically linking substrate physical properties to plant redox regulation and rhizosphere microbiome assembly under turbid-water stress, providing an integrated plant–microbe perspective previously unaddressed.MethodsIn this study, we cultivated Vallisneria spinulosa Yan using four suspended substrates (plastic mesh, palm mat, linen cloth, and bamboo woven strips) in outdoor flume experiments, aiming to evaluate their effects on plant physiology, water remediation, and associated microbial networks.ResultsOur results demonstrated that the linen cloth substrate most effectively alleviated oxidative damage, as evidenced by significantly enhanced root development, biomass accumulation, and leaf photosynthetic pigment content, alongside a marked reduction in physiological oxidative stress markers. Functionally, all treatments achieved over 90% turbidity removal; however, the linen cloth group exhibited superior purification efficiency, with the highest total nitrogen and total phosphorus removal loads (2.32 × 10-4 and 2.70 × 10-4 g·m-2·d-1, respectively). Critically, microbial community analysis revealed that the linen cloth substrate fostered a more complex and interconnected rhizosphere network, with a notable enrichment of a denitrifying bacterial family (Comamonadaceae), indicating a synergistic enhancement of plant–microbe mutualism under stress.DiscussionCollectively, our findings identify linen cloth as the optimal substrate for suspended planting, not merely as a physical support, but as a catalyst for reinforcing the plant’s antioxidant defense system and orchestrating a beneficial rhizosphere microbiome, thereby providing a robust theoretical framework for applying this redox-based ecological engineering strategy in turbid water restoration.
Related
- Editorial: Microbiome-driven strategies for alleviation of biotic and abiotic stresses in agriculture
- Core and Variable Fractions of the Rhizosphere Microbiome Across Five Field-Grown Mentha Accessions
- A GacS-mediated regulatory framework coordinates bacterial competition and rhizosphere microbiome remodeling in Pseudomonas fluorescens
- Metagenomic insights into dose-dependent alterations in the tobacco rhizosphere microbiome by pyrroloquinoline quinone
- A genetically engineered Citrobacter sp. XT1-2-2 modulates rhizosphere soil microbiome and induces root proteomic changes to reduce cadmium uptake in rice
BibTeX
@article{lu2026substratemediated,
title = {{Substrate-mediated oxidative stress alleviation and rhizosphere microbiome modulation enable submerged macrophyte restoration in high-turbidity water}},
author = {Taofeng Lu and Yunhua Huang and Ziwei Liu and Yanjun Wu and Suqing Wu and Chunzhen Fan},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2026.1961849},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1961849},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Substrate-mediated oxidative stress alleviation and rhizosphere microbiome modulation enable submerged macrophyte restoration in high-turbidity water
AU - Taofeng Lu
AU - Yunhua Huang
AU - Ziwei Liu
AU - Yanjun Wu
AU - Suqing Wu
AU - Chunzhen Fan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2026.1961849
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1961849
AB - IntroductionEcological restoration of submerged macrophytes in highly turbid waters is severely hampered by light attenuation, which imposes significant oxidative stress on plants and disrupts their physiological homeostasis. While suspended planting technology offers a solution by optimizing light exposure, the critical role of planting substrates in modulating plant stress tolerance and rhizosphere resilience remains largely unexplored—a knowledge gap that this study addresses for the first time. This study is novel in systematically linking substrate physical properties to plant redox regulation and rhizosphere microbiome assembly under turbid-water stress, providing an integrated plant–microbe perspective previously unaddressed.MethodsIn this study, we cultivated Vallisneria spinulosa Yan using four suspended substrates (plastic mesh, palm mat, linen cloth, and bamboo woven strips) in outdoor flume experiments, aiming to evaluate their effects on plant physiology, water remediation, and associated microbial networks.ResultsOur results demonstrated that the linen cloth substrate most effectively alleviated oxidative damage, as evidenced by significantly enhanced root development, biomass accumulation, and leaf photosynthetic pigment content, alongside a marked reduction in physiological oxidative stress markers. Functionally, all treatments achieved over 90% turbidity removal; however, the linen cloth group exhibited superior purification efficiency, with the highest total nitrogen and total phosphorus removal loads (2.32 × 10-4 and 2.70 × 10-4 g·m-2·d-1, respectively). Critically, microbial community analysis revealed that the linen cloth substrate fostered a more complex and interconnected rhizosphere network, with a notable enrichment of a denitrifying bacterial family (Comamonadaceae), indicating a synergistic enhancement of plant–microbe mutualism under stress.DiscussionCollectively, our findings identify linen cloth as the optimal substrate for suspended planting, not merely as a physical support, but as a catalyst for reinforcing the plant’s antioxidant defense system and orchestrating a beneficial rhizosphere microbiome, thereby providing a robust theoretical framework for applying this redox-based ecological engineering strategy in turbid water restoration.
SN - 1664-462X
ER -