The effects of composite photosynthetic bacterial inoculant PS21 on the biochemical characteristics of wheat seedlings under tetrabromobisphenol A stress

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the composite photosynthetic bacterial inoculant PS21 alleviate the damage inflicted on wheat seedlings by tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). The biochemical characteristics of wheat seedlings were analysed through laboratory simulation after co-treating seedlings with PS21 and 0, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 100 mg kg(−1) TBBPA, respectively. The results showed that TBBPA reduced the total chlorophyll content and increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content. TBBPA increased the soluble sugar content, soluble protein content and activate superoxide dismutase (SOD; EC: 1.15.1.1), catalase (CAT; EC: 1.11.1.6) and peroxidase (POD; EC: 1.11.1.7) at low concentrations, while it reduced soluble sugar content, soluble protein content and decreased the activities of SOD, CAT and POD at high concentrations. At the concentration of 10(7) CFU mL(−1), PS21 could markedly relieve the toxicity of different concentrations of TBBPA on wheat seedlings. Wheat seedlings treated with both TBBPA and PS21 showed a higher soluble sugar content, higher soluble protein content, higher SOD, CAT and POD activities, and a lower MDA content as compared to those treated only with TBBPA. The composite photosynthetic bacterial inoculant PS21 significantly alleviates the damage inflicted on wheat seedlings by TBBPA.