Accepted Manuscript

Variations in pH significantly affect cadmium uptake in grafted muskmelon (Cucumis

melo L.) plants and drive the diversity of bacterial communities in a seedling substrate

Jian Zhang, Hongmei Tian, Pengcheng Wang, Qingqing Xiao, Shoujing Zhu, Haikun
Jiang

PII: S0981-9428(19)30095-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2019.03.013
Reference: PLAPHY 5621

To appear in: Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

Received Date: 31 December 2018

Revised Date: 7 March 2019
Accepted Date: 7 March 2019

Please cite this article as: J. Zhang, H. Tian, P. Wang, Q. Xiao, S. Zhu, H. Jiang, Variations in pH
significantly affect cadmium uptake in grafted muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) plants and drive the
diversity of bacterial communities in a seedling substrate, Plant Physiology et Biochemistry (2019), doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2019.03.013.

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1 Variations in pH significantly affect cadmium uptake in grafted muskmelon

2 (Cucumis melo L.) plants and drive the diversity of bacterial communities in a

3 seedling substrate

4 Jian Zhang1,2*, Hongmei Tian1,2, Pengcheng Wang1,2*, Qingqing Xiao3, Shoujing

5 Zhu4, Haikun Jiang1,2,5

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1
6 Institute of Horticulture, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei 230031

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7 Anhui Province, China
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8 Key Laboratory of Genetic Improvement and Ecophysiology of Horticultural Crops,

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9 Hefei 230031 Anhui Province, China
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10 Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Hefei University, 230022

11 Anhui Province, China

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12 College of Life Science and Resources and Environment, Yichun University, Yichun
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13 336000 Jiangxi Province, China

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14 School of Horticulture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036 Anhui Province,
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15 China
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17 Running title: pH affects Cd uptake in grafted plants

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19 *Corresponding author: Jian Zhang Pengcheng Wang

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20 E-mail: microbiol@126.com pengchengah@hotmail.com

21 Telephone number: +86-551-65160817 Fax number: +86-551-65148169

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23

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26 Abstract

27 Substrates are fundamental prerequisites for growing grafted seedlings. In this study,

28 substrates with different pH levels (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, and 8.0) were set up to

29 elucidate the effect of pH on cadmium (Cd) uptake in grafted muskmelon (Cucumis

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30 melo L.) plants. Bacterial diversity was also investigated. Results showed that pH and

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31 high Cd concentration greatly affected the growth of grafted plants. The chlorophyll

32 content of the muskmelon leaves decreased at 100 µM Cd. The majority of the Cd

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33 ions accumulated in the rootstock rather than in the shoot tissue in all of the

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34 treatments. The shoots and roots showed the highest Cd content at pH 5.5 and the
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35 lowest Cd content at pH 8.0 regardless of the Cd concentration. The operational

36 taxonomic units belonging to Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were significantly (p

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37 < 0.05) enriched at different substrate pH levels compared with those at pH 5.0. The
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38 operational taxonomic units belonging to the phyla Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, and

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39 Chloroflexi were significantly decreased. The available nitrogen, phosphorus, Cd, and

40 pH were strongly linked to bacterial community compositions. On the contrary, the

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41 available potassium was weakly correlated with the bacterial structure. This study
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42 demonstrates that pH greatly affects Cd uptake in grafted muskmelon plants and

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43 predicts microbial community structures in breeding substrates with different pH

44 levels. Our results suggest that Cd accumulation in grafted plants can be reduced by

45 setting the appropriate substrate pH. This work can serve as a reference for growing

46 high-quality grafted plants and ensuring food safety in the presence of Cd

47 contamination.

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48 Keywords: bacterial structure; cadmium adsorption; grafting; growing substrate; pH

49 level

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51 1. Introduction

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52 Grafting of vegetable crops is a well-developed practice that has been intensively used

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53 in the last 50 years because of its various horticultural advantages (Edelstein et al.,

54 2014). The percentage of vegetables cultivated through grafting has increased

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55 worldwide, and these vegetables are under intensive production (Lee et al., 2010). At

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56 present, grafting plays an essential role in vegetable production and addresses an
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57 important requirement in the intensive seedling production of vegetable crops, such as

58 watermelon, muskmelon, and tomato (Kubota, 2008; Lee et al., 2010; Mohamed et al.,
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59 2014). Grafting reduces the adverse effects of soil-borne pathogens (Huang et al.,
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60 2016) and enhances abiotic stress tolerance and nutrient uptake efficiency, along with
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61 fruit quality and yield (Edelstein et al., 2011). However, several other factors, such as

62 rootstock, concentrations of minerals in growing substrates, grafting techniques, and

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63 field management, affect the yielding attributes (Rouphael et al., 2010). Among these
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64 factors, a growing substrate directly influences the growth of grafted vegetable crops
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65 (Martínez-Ballesta et al., 2008). Thus, the optimum physical and chemical

66 characteristics of a substrate for seedling plant growth should be determined.

67 In our previous study, we reported that a substrate composed of different

68 proportions of peat, vermiculite, and pearlite can be used to grow nongrafted and

69 grafted seedlings (Zhang et al., 2017a). However, substrates usually feature

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70 inconsistent physical properties (e.g., electrical conductivity and water holding

71 capacity) (De Grazia et al., 2004) because their different components, such as turf, are

72 derived from various sources and show different attributes (e.g., particle size, bulk

73 density, porosity, and pH) (Kechavarzi et al., 2010; Lishtvan et al., 2017). pH is an

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74 important consideration during substrate selection for seedling production (Rincón et

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75 al., 2005) because it maintains the physicochemical characteristics of substrates.

76 Considering these viewpoints, we explored the most suitable substrate pH for growing

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77 grafted plants.

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78 Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal that accumulates in soil via
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79 chemical fertilizer or pesticide application and industrial waste contamination (Wei et

80 al., 2016). In China, more than 16.8% of the total cropland is contaminated with
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81 various heavy metals, including Cd (Bashir et al., 2018). Cd can be absorbed by crop
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82 plants and may threaten food safety (Dourado et al., 2014). For example, rice, wheat,
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83 and vegetables are greatly exposed to Cd (Luo et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2010). Cd

84 accumulation in soil is one of the most serious environmental hazards, and this
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85 phenomenon exacerbates pollution, affects crop production, and threatens human

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86 health (Jiang et al., 2008). Strategies to cope with the Cd contamination of vegetable
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87 crops have become increasingly important because vegetables are a staple food in

88 many parts of the world. Although microbes drive many important biogeochemical

89 cycles not only in soils but also in plants, the pattern of microbial diversity in growing

90 substrates is rarely described. Microbial communities can be used as indicative

91 markers for the assessment of cultivating healthy seedlings. Other issues in growing

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92 seedlings include determining whether microbial structures will respond to variations

93 in pH in growing substrates and uncovering the changes in the response of microbes

94 to Cd in substrates.

95 Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is a crop growing in warm season, suited in arid

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96 and semi-arid regions, and can be cultivated all year round (Pandey et al., 2016). For

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97 example, China produces 50% of the total amount of muskmelon (Vendruscolo et al.,

98 2017), and cultivating muskmelon is an important approach to increase income.

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99 Considering that muskmelon is an important horticultural crop and has great potential

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100 and demand worldwide, many researchers attempted to improve this crop by breeding
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101 new cultivars, enhancing quality, and increasing soluble sugar content (Dehghani et

102 al., 2012; Murakami et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2010). The key step is to obtain a
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103 suitable substrate for growing grafted muskmelon. However, whether substrate pH or
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104 leaf chlorophyll content affects the growth of grafted muskmelon remains unknown.
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105 Studies have rarely evaluated the Cd uptake potential of grafted plants grown in

106 substrates with different pH levels.

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107 In this study, we varied substrate pH and selected a commercial rootstock to

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108 characterize the effect of pH on the early growth of grafted muskmelon plants. We
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109 also evaluated whether substrate pH affected Cd uptake in the grafted plant. We

110 subjected the selected seedlings to phenotypic analyses for shoot and root traits and

111 rhizobacterial community analyses through v4-v5 16S rRNA amplicon

112 pyrosequencing. This study improved our understanding of the role of substrate pH in

113 the growth of grafted plants and provided new insights into grafting plants for

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114 intensive seedling production.

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116 2. Materials and Methods

117 2.1 Preparation of substrates

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118 Our seedling substrate was composed of peat:vermiculite:perlite at a ratio of 3:1:1

(v/v). The total density of the mixed substrate was 0.25–0.30 g cm−3, the total porosity

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119

120 was 85.8% to 87.0%, and the initial pH of peat was 5.0. The water holding capacity

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121 was 2.4 ml cm−3 to 3.0 ml cm−3, and the moisture content of the substrate was 50% to

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122 55%. Substrate pH was adjusted to 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, and 8.0 by using quick lime
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123 composed of calcium oxide (Sangon Biotech, Shanghai, Co., Ltd.). The initial

124 properties of the substrate were as follows: 0.58 g kg−1 available nitrogen (NH4+)
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125 (AN), 0.15 g kg−1 available phosphorus (AP), and 0.69 g kg−1 available potassium
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126 (AK). W1F, W2F, W3F, W4F, W5F, and W6F represented pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0,
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127 and 8.0, respectively.

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129 2.2 Plant materials

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130 Muskmelon (C. melo L., cultivar ‘Cuimi’) plants, which exhibit growth retardation in
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131 the substrate when 50 or 100 µM Cd was added, were used as the nongrafted control

132 in a greenhouse from October 01, 2017, to March 10, 2018, at the Anhui Academy of

133 Agricultural Sciences. The hybrid of ‘White pumpkin,’ which is one of the most

134 popular rootstocks commercially used in muskmelon grafting in Anhui Province,

135 China, was obtained from a cross between ‘Chinese pumpkin’ and ‘Yellow pumpkin’

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136 (Chinese Cucurbita moschata × India C. moschata) and used as the rootstock.

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138 2.3 Sowing Seeds

139 Seeds of the rootstock were sown in 23 g of substrate in 6 cm-diameter plastic pots

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140 under greenhouse conditions at the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences 7–8 days

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141 earlier than the scion seeds to meet uniform shoot diameters for the grafting

142 experiment. Muskmelon seeds were also sown in 23 g of substrate in 6 cm-diameter

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143 plastic pots under greenhouse conditions. The environmental conditions for

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144 germination were set at 24 °C to 28 °C temperature and 85%–90% relative humidity.
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146 2.4 Grafting method and management under greenhouse conditions

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147 The tongue approach was used for grafting. In brief, grafting was performed after the
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148 first true leaf developed in the rootstock and scion. The hypocotyls of the rootstock
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149 and the muskmelon scion were cut with a sharp and gauzy blade and clipped together.

150 Then, the grafted plants were placed under a plastic film at 25 °C to 30 °C and more
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151 than 90% humidity in darkness. The grafted plants were exposed to sunlight 2–3 h per
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152 day until the scions were alive and normally grown after 7 days. Two Cd solution
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153 concentrations (50 and 100 µM) were added to the grafted plants of different substrate

154 pH levels. More than 10 grafted plants in three replicates were used. The grafted

155 plants under different treatments were transferred to the greenhouse in accordance

156 with regular management. A N:P:K (1:3:3) solution (10 ml) was regularly

157 supplemented in the substrate (after every 8 days) to satisfy the nutrient requirement

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158 of a growing grafted plant. The plants were cultivated through surface irrigation with

159 day and night temperatures of 24 °C–28 °C and 15 °C–20 °C, respectively.

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161 2.5 Vegetable seedling sampling

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162 Ten grafted seedling plants were sampled from each treatment. Fresh leaves were

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163 collected from each of the 10 plants and stored at 4 °C before analysis. The roots were

164 snipped from the grafted plant. Then, the shoots and the roots were oven dried for 3

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165 days at 70 °C. The dried shoots and roots were measured for dry weight and stored for

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166 further analyses. More than 10 grafted plants in three replicates were used.
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168 2.6 Detection of chlorophyll in leaves

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169 The chlorophyll contents in the leaves of the grafted muskmelon plants were detected
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170 using a Konica Minolta SPAD-502 Plus chlorophyll meter (Konica Minolta, Inc.,
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171 Japan) as previously described (Akiyama et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 2017a).

172
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173 2.7 Determination of total phosphorus amount and Cd concentration

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174 The total amount of phosphorus in the dried grafted plants was determined as
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175 previously described (Abbasi et al., 2011). The oven-dried samples (shoots and roots)

176 were ground (0.5 mm) for analysis. Then, the ground shoot (200 mg) and root (100

177 mg) samples were digested in a solution of concentrated HNO3 and HClO4 (4:1, v/v).

178 Subsequently, the volume was added to 10 ml by using double deionized water. The

179 Cd content in the grafted plants was determined using an atomic absorption

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180 spectrometer (TAS-986, Beijing, China) in accordance with the method reported by

181 Jiang et al. (2008). Reagent blank and analytical duplicates were arranged to ensure

182 accuracy in the analysis process.

183

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184 2.8 Microbial DNA extraction

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185 The DNA was extracted from 0.5 g of fresh rhizosphere substrate in triplicate from

186 each plastic pot by using FastDNA isolation kits (MP Biomedicals, USA) in

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187 accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. In addition, the quantity and quality

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188 of DNA extracts were determined using a NanoDrop™ 2000 spectrophotometer
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189 (NanoDrop Technologies, Wilmington, DE, USA). The DNA was stored at −80 °C for

190 further analyses.

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191
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192 2.9 16S rRNA gene amplification and Illumina MiSeq sequencing
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193 Illumina MiSeq sequencing was performed as previously described (Shen et al., 2013).

194 The primers F515 (5′-GTGCCAGCMGCCGCGG-3′) and R907

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195 (5′-CCGTCAATTCMTTTRAGTTT-3′) were used to amplify the bacterial 16S rRNA

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196 genes (V4–V5). Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) were performed as previously
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197 described (Sun et al., 2015). PCR was performed in 50 µl under the following

198 conditions: 94 °C for 5 min, 30 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 55 °C for 30 s, and 72 °C for

199 30 s. The PCR products were purified using a Qiagen gel extraction kit (Qiagen,

200 Germany). Sequencing was performed using an Illumina MiSeq platform at a

201 commercial biotechnology company (Biozeron, http://www.biozeron.com, Shanghai,

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202 China).

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204 2.10 Sequence analysis

205 After pyrosequencing was performed, the technicians of Sino GenoMax wrote scripts

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206 to filter the sequences (Hu et al., 2012). The sequences were initially screened and

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207 eliminated from further analysis in accordance with the following criteria: length

208 shorter than 200 bp, presence of a homopolymer longer than 6 bp, substantial

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209 mismatching bases in primer or barcodes, or quality score below 25 by using Sino

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210 GenoMax. The sequence with a high relative abundance in each operational
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211 taxonomic unit (OTU) was selected using the nucleotide non-redundant database of

212 the National Center for Biotechnology Information in accordance with a previous
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213 report (Sun et al., 2015). These OTUs were determined using Mothur
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214 (http://www.mothur.org), and 97% identities were found. The most abundant sequence
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215 was chosen as a typical OTU (Sun et al., 2015).

216
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217 2.11 Statistical analysis

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218 The species richness of the samples was estimated using Chao1 and Shannon indexes,
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219 which were calculated using QIIME (Zhou et al., 2018). Principal component analysis

220 (PCA) was performed to analyze the interrelationships between microbial

221 communities of different samples (Wanapaisan et al., 2018). The LEfSe analysis,

222 which emphasizes biological relevance and statistical significance, was performed as

223 previously reported (Zhang et al., 2013). Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA)

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224 was conducted to analyze the effect of setting factors (e.g., pH, AN, AP, AK, and Cd2+

225 ion) on the bacterial community (Zhou et al., 2018). Data were analyzed through

226 one-way ANOVA. The Shannon index was used to compare substrate bacterial

227 number diversity. Mean analysis was conducted using one-way ANOVA followed by

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228 Fisher’s LSD test at p < 0.05 (*) and p < 0.01 (**) by using SPSS version 19.0 (SPSS

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229 Inc., USA).

230

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231 3. Results

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232 3.1 Change in substrate pH
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233 After the grafted seedlings grew, the pH of all of the substrates, except those with pH

234 5.0, decreased. The reduction rate in the substrate with pH 6.0 was the most
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235 significant among the samples. The reduction in the substrate with pH 8.0 was also
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236 significant. Supplementing the substrates with 50 or 100 µM Cd exerted no significant

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237 effect on the substrate pH (Supplemental Fig. 1a).

238
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239 3.2 Grafted plant growth analysis at six pH levels

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240 The control plants grown at six pH levels were excellent and showed no significant
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241 difference in appearance (Fig. 1). The grafted muskmelon treated with a low Cd

242 concentration (50 µM) at pH 6.5 grew well but grew weakly at pH 8. At a high Cd

243 concentration (100 µM), all of the treated grafted muskmelon plants were relatively

244 weaker than the control and the plants exposed to a low Cd concentration (50 µM).

245

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246 3.3 Chlorophyll content

247 The addition of 50 µM Cd in the substrate increased the chlorophyll content of the

248 leaves compared with that of the control. The chlorophyll content of the plants at a

249 high Cd concentration (100 µM) decreased in the substrates treated with pH 6.0 and

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250 8.0 (Supplemental Fig. 1b). In general, the chlorophyll content of each set was the

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251 same. In particular, the highest chlorophyll content was found at pH 6.5, whereas the

252 lowest chlorophyll contents were detected at pH 5.0 and 8. At a high Cd concentration,

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253 the chlorophyll content of the muskmelon leaves decreased but not to a significant

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254 level.
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255

256 3.4 Shoot and root dry weights

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257 Among the six pH levels, pH 5.5 showed the lowest shoot dry weights (380.4 mg) in
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258 the high Cd treatment (Supplemental Fig. 2a). The treatment with pH 8.0 showed a
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259 high shoot dry weight (540.11 mg) in the control. The root dry weights were the same

260 among the six treatments without Cd addition. However, the root dry weights (34.7
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261 mg) significantly (p < 0.05) decreased at pH 6.5 at 100 µM Cd compared with that of
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262 the control (44.53 mg). The highest root dry weight was 48.25 mg at pH 6.5 without
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263 the addition of Cd (Supplemental Fig. 2b). The addition of 100 µM Cd affected the

264 root growth of the grafted muskmelon plants.

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266 3.5 Cd concentration in grafted plants

267 The absorption of Cd in the shoots and roots of the grafted plants fluctuated on the

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268 basis of the change in substrate pH (Fig. 2). The concentration of Cd was the highest

269 in roots and shoots at pH 5.5 (2.73 and 3.96 µg g−1, respectively) and 6.19 and 9.59

270 µg g−1 in roots at 50 and 100 µM, respectively. Although the Cd content in the shoots

271 and roots decreased at pH 6.0, the absorbed amount of Cd was similar to that at pH

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272 5.5. The Cd concentrations of the shoots were 2.11 and 3.45 µg g−1 at 50 and 100 µM,

respectively, and the Cd concentrations of the roots were 4.85 and 9.49 µg g−1 at 50

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274 and 100 µM, respectively. However, when pH was 8.0, the Cd contents in the shoots

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275 (0.97 and 1.52 µg g−1) and roots (1.43 and 2.31 µg g−1) were low at 50 and 100 µM,

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276 respectively.
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277 In both Cd concentration treatments, the amount of Cd in the roots was

278 significantly higher than that in the shoots at the same pH level. Increasing the pH
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279 decreased the root-to-shoot ratio of Cd. In the 50 µM-treated grafted plants, the lowest
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280 root-to-shoot ratio was 0.52 (root, pH 8.0: shoot, pH 5.5), whereas the highest ratio
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281 was 6.36 (root, pH 5.5: shoot pH 8.0) (Table 1). In the 100 µM-treated grafted plants,

282 the lowest root-to-shoot ratio was 0.58 (root, pH 8.0: shoot, pH 5.5), whereas the
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283 highest ratio was 6.30 (root, pH 5.5: shoot, pH 8.0) (Table 2). After analyzing the 100
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284 µM to 50 µM treatment ratios, we found that the largest value was 2.16 (root, pH 6.0:
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285 shoot, pH 5.0) (Supplemental Table 1). All of the root-to-shoot ratios of Cd at 100 µM

286 to 50 µM were higher by 1.

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288 3.6 Diversities of bacterial communities

289 The diversity index of the W2-50, W2-100, and W3-50 treatments had higher

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290 bacterial Shannon indexes than those of the other treatments (Supplemental Fig. 3a).

291 The Su1 and Su6 treatments had the lowest bacterial Shannon indexes. The Chao

292 index of the W3-50, W5-100, and W5F treatments yielded the highest bacterial Chao

293 indexes among 18 samples, whereas the Su1 and Su6 treatments had the lowest

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294 bacterial Chao index (Supplemental Fig. 3b).

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295

296 3.7 Compositions of bacterial communities

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297 Before the seedlings were grown, the abundance of the members of Proteobacteria

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298 was the lowest and accounted for 38.62% when the initial substrate pH was 5.0 (Fig.
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299 3). Increasing the pH gradually increased the count to 64.64% during seedling growth.

300 At the end of the grafting experiment, this phylum increased to its maximum and
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301 accounted for 67.84% at pH 7.0 at 50 µM Cd. In other treatments, the change in
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302 bacterial count (50%–60%) was not highly significant. The members of the phylum
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303 Firmicutes accounted for 39.68% in the initial substrate of pH 5.0. Increasing the pH

304 level significantly decreased the bacterial count to 10.20% at Su6 with pH 8.0. At 100
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305 µM, the abundance of bacteria from Firmicutes was 3.95% when the substrate pH was
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306 increased to 8.0. Increasing the pH level also significantly increased the abundance of
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307 the members of Bacteroidetes from 3.51% at the initial substrate to 20.99% at pH 6.0.

308 In other treatments, the abundance of bacteria considerably increased. The Cd

309 concentration did not affect the abundance of the members of Bacteroidetes.

310 Changes in the abundance of Actinobacteria fluctuated relative to pH. The value

311 was only 6.90% at pH 5.0. The highest value was 10.37% at pH 7.0, whereas the

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312 lowest value was 3.49% in the substrate with 50 µM Cd. At 50 µM, the highest count

313 (9.44%) was found at pH 6.0. At 100 µM, the highest level of Actinobacteria was

314 10.21% at pH 6.0. Gemmatimonadetes also significantly increased. However, such

315 increase only accounted for 1.41% in the initial substrate and had the lowest value of

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316 0.79% at pH 8.0. The treatments that produced the highest abundance of this phylum

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317 were W5-100 (pH 7.0, 100 µM Cd), W5F (pH 7.0), and W5-50 (pH 7.0, 50 µM Cd),

318 which accounted for 9.18%, 8.96%, and 7.58%, respectively.

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319 Cyanobacteria accounted for 0.68% at the initial substrate at pH 5.0 and

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320 gradually decreased as pH increased. However, this outcome was undetected in the
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321 initial substrate at pH 8.0. The highest proportion (10.49%) was detected in the 50

322 µM-treated grafted plants with a substrate pH of 8.0. The difference between other
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323 treatments was not evident and ranged from 2.50% to 6.00%. Chloroflexi accounted
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324 for 2.67% in the initial substrate at pH 5.0. The lowest value (0.86%) was found in the
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325 substrate at pH 8.0, and the highest value (5.27%) was detected at pH 6.0 with 50 µM

326 Cd treatment. The pH level slightly affected this phylum.

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327 The abundance of the phylum Acidobacteria gradually decreased from 5.25% to
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328 0.69% as substrate pH increased. After the grafted plants were grown, the abundance
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329 of this phylum decreased from 5.62% to 0.54%. This phylum decreased in abundance

330 from 6.29% to 1.04% at 50 µM Cd and increased from 7.51% to 1.09% at 100 µM Cd.

331 The heatmap results showed the high abundance of bacteria (Supplemental Fig. 4).

332 The increase in pH considerably enhanced the abundance of Bacteroidetes and

333 Actinobacteria.

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334

335 3.8 PCA and LEfSe analyses

336 PCA revealed that the bacterial community compositions were separated by pH level

337 (Supplemental Fig. 5). Four groups were clustered through LEfSe analyses, and 83

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338 supposed microbes were selected and considered the key ones in the four types of

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339 substrates. The microbiota of each substrate in each group was compared through

340 LEfSe to identify the specific microbial groups associated with different pH levels

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341 between Su1 and W-100 treatments (Fig. 4). A few OTUs were also identified, and

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342 they varied between the four treatments in the different pH substrate groups.
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344 4. Discussion
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345 4.1 Variations in pH level and chlorophyll content

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346 Grafting is a unique and practical technology that allows growers to breed robust
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347 seedlings (Justus and Kubota, 2010; Penella et al., 2017), and the substrate is the main

348 component for the production of grafted plants (Ribeiro et al., 2007). Analyzing the
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349 effect of substrate pH on the growth of grafted muskmelon plants can help grow
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350 healthy seedlings. In this study, no significant change was found among the six
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351 substrates with six pH levels at pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.5, and 7.0. Large variations were

352 observed at pH 6.0 and 8.0 (Supplemental Fig. 1a). The grafted plants grew well in all

353 of the six treatments with different pH levels, suggesting that rootstock was adaptive

354 to pH variation. A similar observation was reported in the grafted tomato plants,

355 whose dry biomass does not remarkably vary at different pH levels (Borgognone et al.,

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356 2013). Nevertheless, our results suggested that rootstock could adapt to a larger range

357 of pH, even though the rootstocks were different. The addition of Cd had no

358 significant effect on the growth of the grafted muskmelon in all of the six substrates.

359 However, the addition of 50 µM Cd increased the chlorophyll content (Supplemental

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360 Fig. 1b), whereas the addition of 100 µM Cd decreased the chlorophyll content at pH

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361 6.0 and 8.0. Cd can affect photosynthesis and inhibit enzymatic activity in plants (Ji et

362 al., 2017; Pereira de Araújo et al., 2017). Sunflower photosynthetic processes are

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363 considerably affected only in plants grown in the presence of Cd (R. et al., 2001). Our

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364 observations indicated that a high Cd concentration suppressed plant chlorophyll
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365 content and impaired plant root growth (Supplemental Fig. 1b).

366
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367 4.2 Cd concentration and uptake between shoots and roots

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368 Cd is a hazardous heavy metal (Karri et al., 2018) that threatens human health and
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369 restrains the regeneration and growth of plants (Belimov et al., 2005; Li et al., 2017;

370 Xiao et al., 2015). Our study showed that the Cd concentrations in the shoot and root
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371 tissues varied considerably among the different pH levels (Fig. 2). The highest Cd
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372 content was obtained at pH 5.5 in the shoot and roots, and this value was close to the
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373 Cd content at pH 6.0. This result suggested that these pH levels were favorable to

374 substrates that absorbed Cd for grafted muskmelon plants. The Cd adsorption capacity

375 of bamboo charcoal increases as pH increases, and the optimum pH for Cd removal is

376 8.0 (Wang et al., 2010). Conversely, our study demonstrated that less Cd was detected

377 in the shoots and roots at pH 8.0 (Fig. 2), indicating that the increase in substrate pH

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378 level decreased the Cd uptake of the grafted muskmelon plant because of the ability of

379 high pH to immobilize Cd. Moreover, grafting can reduce Cd uptake in muskmelon.

380 Grafted watermelon exhibits a strong capacity to inhibit Cd accumulation in aerial

381 parts (Shirani Bidabadi et al., 2018). Our results addressed the scientific queries

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382 regarding Cd immobilization by regulating pH levels in breeding substrates. We

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383 confirmed that a low pH could increase the Cd activity, whereas a high pH in

384 substrates immobilized Cd.

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385 The concentration of Cd was higher in the root than in the shoot tissue at all of

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386 the pH levels in this study. Similarly, Wilhelm et al. (2000) observed that the Cd
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387 concentrations in the roots are much higher than those in the shoots of three white

388 lupine plants. Although we used different plants, the same conclusion was obtained.
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389 The adsorption of Cd by the roots is considered a key process in the overall plant Cd
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390 accumulation, and the active uptake of Cd into roots has been demonstrated in various
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391 plants (Chan and Hale, 2004). Our study further revealed that Cd in the shoots and

392 roots of the grafted muskmelon plants was positively correlated with substrate pH.
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393 These observations indicated that the variations in Cd uptake in the grafted
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394 muskmelon plants grown in the substrates were directly correlated with pH. Using
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395 biochar to increase soil pH can enhance Cd immobilization (Bashir et al., 2018),

396 suggesting that Cd uptake in plants can be reduced by increasing substrate pH.

397 Therefore, a decrease in Cd in the shoots and roots of a grafted plant at pH 8.0 is

398 likely due to the immobilized Cd in substrates, considering that pH is an important

399 parameter affecting the mobility of heavy metals in soils (Houben et al., 2013). Our

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400 results suggested that regulating the appropriate pH in substrates could help obtain

401 safe high-quality grafted muskmelon plants even when they were grown in

402 Cd-contaminated substrates or soils.

403

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404 4.3 Diversities of bacterial communities in the grown substrate

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405 Soil pH is an important parameter to study the biological communities in soils

406 (Zhalnina et al., 2015). Under field or greenhouse conditions, soil pH can be adjusted

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407 to high or low by using quick lime or humic acid in acidic pH (Malik et al., 2018;

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408 Wang et al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2019). The diversity of soil bacterial communities can
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409 be predicted through soil pH (Fierer and Jackson, 2006; Khaled et al., 2018). In our

410 study, Shannon and Chao index analyses indicated that the substrate at pH 5.0 showed
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411 substantially decreased bacterial richness. The predominant bacterial phyla detected
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412 through high-throughput sequencing were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes,

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413 Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Chloroflexi (Fig. 3). Our results reflected the

414 main phyla present in the substrate and corresponded to those of previous studies
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415 based on agricultural soils (Embarcadero-Jiménez et al., 2016). These results

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416 suggested that the predominant bacteria colonized the soil and the grown substrate.
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417 Proteobacteria copiotroph is favored by nutrient-rich conditions with a high carbon

418 content (Newton and McMahon, 2011). The abundance of Acidobacteria in soil is

419 often high under low organic matter conditions and negatively correlated with soil pH

420 (Jones et al., 2009). Our study also demonstrated that several OTUs belonging to

421 Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were significantly enriched at different substrate pH

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422 levels. On the contrary, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, and Chloroflexi, which participate

423 in the degradation of plant-derived compounds, such as cellulose (Wang et al., 2018),

424 significantly decreased as the substrate pH increased (Fig. 3). Soil pH or spatial

425 distances are mainly determined by soil bacterial diversity (Tripathi et al., 2018;

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426 Zhang et al., 2017b). LEfSe analyses (Fig. 4) revealed that bacterial communities

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427 from each treatment significantly differed. In particular, the number of specific

428 microbial groups (in blue) in W-50 was more than that in the three other treatments,

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429 suggesting that bacteria in W-50 not only responded to Cd stress but also positively

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430 adapted to various pH substrates. The number of microbial groups (in green) in
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431 W-100 was lower than that in the other treatments, suggesting that a high Cd

432 concentration could significantly reduce the bacterial OTUs. After the seedlings were
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433 grown without adding Cd, the number of microbial groups (in purple) in the substrates
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434 (WF) was more than that in the initial substrate (Su) used before the seedlings were
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435 grown, implying that numerous beneficial bacteria would colonize the rhizosphere of

436 seedling plants. In summary, our findings provided evidence that the pH of substrates
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437 influenced the microbial diversity in the breeding substrates. Another study showed
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438 that pH is a strong universal predictor of bacterial community structures in acidic soils
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439 and alkaline sediments (Jinbo et al., 2012). Our study demonstrated that pH affected

440 microbial community structure in the whole root rhizosphere of grafted muskmelon

441 plants grown in breeding substrates. The CCA results showed that pH, AN, AP, and

442 Cd were strongly linked to bacterial community compositions, whereas AK was

443 weakly correlated with the bacterial structure (Fig. 5) in the substrates with different

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444 pH levels. Notably, pH exhibited the strongest correlation with the microbial

445 community in the substrates. Similar to soil condition, bacterial diversity is

446 predominantly determined or positively correlated with pH (Sun et al., 2015; Yuan et

447 al., 2018). This result confirmed that pH contributed to the formation of microbial

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448 community compositions not only in soils but also in breeding substrates. This study

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449 provided baseline information for growing seedlings in substrates with different pH

450 levels.

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451

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452 5. Conclusion
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453 This study investigated the effects of pH on Cd accumulation in grafted muskmelon

454 plants grown in a substrate. Cd accumulation greatly varied in the grafted muskmelon
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455 plants studied under low and high pH conditions. The pH level of the substrate played
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456 an important role in Cd uptake and accumulation in the grafted muskmelon plants. Cd
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457 accumulation in the shoots of the grafted plants was lower than that in the roots. The

458 significant reduction in Cd accumulation at high pH might be mainly due to a

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459 decrease in Cd mobility in the substrates. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and

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460 Bacteroidetes were significantly enriched (p < 0.05) at different substrate pH levels.
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461 On the contrary, Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria significantly decreased. The pH levels,

462 AP, AN, and Cd were strongly correlated with the bacterial composition in the

463 substrates. Our study suggested that we could significantly reduce Cd accumulation in

464 grafted muskmelon plants by selecting the appropriate substrate pH level. This work

465 provided insights into the effect of substrate pH and Cd concentration on the growth

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466 of grafted plants and could serve as a reference for growing safe and high-quality

467 grafted plants under Cd-contaminated conditions.

468

469 Conflict of interest

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470 The authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest.

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471

472 Acknowledgments

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473 This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of

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474 China (Grant Nos. 31701968 and 41501355), and the National Key Research and
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475 Development Program of China (2018YFD0201309), the Fund (No. 18C0309) from

476 Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Natural Research Project of Anhui
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477 Province (Grant No. 1608085QD85). We also thank Jing Chen and Yu Cao,
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478 undergraduate students from the School of Horticulture in Anhui Agricultural

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479 University, for their assistance in the experiment.

480
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481 References
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695

696
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697 Figure captions

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698 Fig. 1. Grafted plants grown in six treatments (pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, and 8.0). Two
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699 groups of substrates were supplemented with 50 and 100 µM Cd. Six pH levels were

700 set. The initial pH of the substrate was 5.0, and this level was adjusted with quick
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701 lime to pH 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, and 8.0. After the grafted plants were sampled, the pH
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702 levels of the grown substrates were detected.

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703

704 Fig. 2. Cd concentrations in the shoot and root tissues of the grafted plants grown in

705 six treatments. Significant differences were tested with Fisher’s protected LSD at *p ≤

706 0.05 and **p ≤ 0.01. Values were written as means ± standard deviations of three

707 replicates. W1F, W2F, W3F, W4F, W5F, and W6F represented pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5,

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708 7.0, and 8.0, respectively.

709

710 Fig. 3. Compositions of bacterial communities in all of the substrates illustrated using

711 Treebar at the phylum level.

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712

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713 Fig. 4. LEfSe analysis of all of the substrates. Four groups were illustrated with

714 different colors. Each color indicated the key bacterial phylum in each treatment.

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715

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716 Fig. 5. Canonical correspondence analysis of bacterial communities in different
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717 substrates related to environmental variables. Environmental factors included

718 available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), Cd
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719 concentration, and pH.

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721 Supplemental figure captions

722 Supplemental Fig. 1. Variations in substrate pH (a) and chlorophyll content (b).
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723 Significant differences were tested in accordance with Fisher’s protected LSD at *p ≤
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724 0.05. Values were presented as mean ± standard deviation with three replicates.
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726 Supplemental Fig. 2. Shoot and root dry weights of the grafted plants grown in the

727 substrates supplemented with 50 and 100 µM Cd. Significant differences were tested

728 in accordance with Fisher’s protected LSD at *p ≤ 0.05 and **p ≤ 0.01. Values were

729 written as mean ± standard deviation in three replicates.

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731 Supplemental Fig. 3. Shannon (a) and Chao (b) indices of bacteria in six substrate

732 treatments. Su1, Su2, Su3, Su4, Su5, and Su6 represented pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0,

733 and 8.0, respectively. W1-50 to W6-50 represented six pH levels at 50 µM Cd.

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734 W1-100 to W6-100 represented six pH levels at 100 µM Cd.

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736 Supplemental Fig. 4. Microbial community heatmap analysis at the phylum level.

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738 Supplemental Fig. 5. PCA of all of the substrates. The samples were grouped by pH
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739 level.
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Table 1 Ratio of Cd content in the grafted muskmelon root and shoot at 50 µM treatment.

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Shoot 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 8.0
Root 2.59±0.06 2.73±0.09 2.11±0.05 1.90±0.03 1.14±0.02 0.97±0.04

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5.0 4.58±0.05 1.77±0.02§b 1.68±0.04b 2.17±0.06ab 2.42±0.05b 4.02±0.11ab 4.70±0.10b
5.5 6.20±0.01 2.39±0.04a 2.27±0.09a 2.94±0.07a 3.27±0.03a 5.43±0.13a 6.36±0.15a

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6.0 3.15±0.04 1.22±0.08bc 1.16±0.06bc 1.49±0.04 1.66±0.08bc 2.76±0.08bc 3.24±0.08
6.5 4.37±0.10 1.69±0.06b 1.60±0.01b 2.07±0.02b 2.30±0.05b 3.83±0.09b 4.48±0.11b
7.0 2.31±0.11 0.89±0.03c 0.85±0.03c 1.09±0.04c 1.22±0.06bc 2.02±0.05c 2.37±0.09c

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§Number = Cd in root/ Cd in shoot. Same letters indicate non-significant differences.

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Table 2 Ratio of Cd content in the grafted muskmelon root and shoot at 100 µM treatment.

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Shoot 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 8.0
Root 3.61±0.11 3.96±0.09 3.45±0.13 2.98±0.10 1.89±0.08 1.52±0.04

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5.0 6.99±0.06 1.94±0.05§ab 1.76±0.02ab 2.03±0.05ab 2.34±0.01ab 3.69±0.10b 4.60±0.18b
5.5 9.59±0.04 2.66±0.05a 2.42±0.05a 2.78±0.06a 3.21±0.09a 5.07±0.14a 6.30±0.14a

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6.0 9.49±0.05 2.63±0.03a 2.40±0.07a 2.75±0.04a 3.18±0.08a 5.01±0.08a 6.24±0.09a
6.5 6.57±0.07 1.82±0.07ab 1.66±0.02ab 1.90±0.05ab 2.20±0.05ab 3.47±0.11b 4.32±0.08b
7.0 4.22±0.03 1.17±0.03b 1.07±0.03b 1.22±0.03b 1.41±0.03b 2.23±0.05c 2.78±0.06c

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8.0 2.31±0.04 0.64±0.01bc 0.58±0.01bc 0.67±0.01bc 0.77±0.05bc 1.22±0.07cd 1.52±0.03d

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§Number = Cd in root/ Cd in shoot. Same letters indicate non-significant differences.

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Highlights

pH of substrates significantly affects Cd uptake in grafted muskmelon plants.

The majority of Cd accumulates in the rootstock rather than in the shoot tissue.

The highest and lowest Cd uptake in grafted plants are found at pH 5.5 and 8.0,
respectively.

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Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes are significantly enriched in substrates.

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AN, AP, Cd, and pH are strongly linked to bacterial community compositions.

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Authors’ Contributions:

ZJ and WPC conceived and designed the experiments. ZJ, WPC, THM, XQQ, ZSJ

and JHK performed the experiments. ZJ and WPC analyzed the data. ZJ and WPC

wrote the manuscript.

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