Nanobrass CuZn Nanoparticles as Foliar Spray Nonphytotoxic Fungicides

Abstract

Inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have been proposed as alternative fertilizers to suppress plant disease and increase crop yield. However, phytotoxicity of NPs remains a key factor for their massive employment in agricultural applications. In order to investigate new effective, nonphytotoxic, and inexpensive fungicides, in the present study CuZn bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) have been synthesized as antifungals, while assessment of photosystem II (PSII) efficiency by chlorophyll fluorescence imaging analysis is utilized as an effective and noninvasive phytotoxicity evaluation method. Thus, biocompatible coated, nonoxide contaminated CuZn BNPs of 20 nm crystallite size and 250 nm hydrodynamic diameter have been prepared by a microwave-assisted synthesis. BNPs' antifungal activity against Saccharomyces cerevisiae was found to be enhanced compared to monometallic Cu NPs. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and photosystem II (PSII) functionality at low light (LL) and high light (HL) intensity were determined on tomato plants sprayed with 15 and 30 mg L of BNPs for the evaluation of their phytotoxicity. Tomato leaves sprayed with 15 mg L of BNPs displayed no significant difference in PSII functionality at LL, while exposure to 30 mg L of BNPs for up to 90 min resulted in a reduced plastoquinone (PQ) pool that gave rise to HO accumulation, initiating signaling networks and regulating acclimation responses. After 3 h of exposure to 30 mg L of BNPs, PSII functionality at LL was similar to control, indicating nonphytotoxic effects. Meanwhile, exposure of tomato leaves either enhanced (15 mg L) or did not have any significant effect (30 mg L) on PSII functionality at HL, attributed to the absence of semiconducting oxide phases and photochemical toxicity-reducing modifications. The use of chlorophyll fluorescence imaging analysis is recommended as a tool to monitor NPs behavior on plants.

Graphene quantum dots-induced physiological and biochemical responses in mung bean and tomato seedlings

“…There are few studies on the absorption, transport and accumulation of nanomaterials in plants compared to the phytotoxicity of nanomaterials (Chichiriccò and Poma 2015). Nanomaterials may be absorbed by plants through root or leaf exposure, which may enhance the interaction between the plants and nanomaterials (Antonoglou et al 2018). The NPs must penetrate the cell wall and the plasma membrane before entering the plant cell.…”

Comparative Study on the Fungicidal Activity of Metallic MgO Nanoparticles and Macroscale MgO Against Soilborne Fungal Phytopathogens

“…A series of inorganic and organic nanomaterials have been developed and proven to exhibit prominent antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties on phytopathogenic microbes in vitro, and some of them still exerted their toxicity effects under greenhouse and field conditions. To date, TiO 2 , CuO (Hao et al, 2017(Hao et al, , 2019Liu et al, 2017), Zn, ZnO (Xue et al, 2014;Antonoglou et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2018), carbon nanomaterials (Chen et al, 2014(Chen et al, , 2016b, Al, and Si nanoparticles (Park H.J. et al, 2006;Shenashen et al, 2017) have been reported to display toxicity toward phytopathogenic bacteria and fungi, decreasing the disease incidence.…”

Various antibacterial mechanisms of biosynthesized copper oxide nanoparticles against soilborneRalstonia solanacearum

“…12 Most importantly, CuZn bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) displayed no phytotoxic effects on tomato plants, as shown by assessing the photosystem II (PSII) efficiency of plants aer 3 h of exposure to BNPs that exhibited antifungal activity against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 13 As a result, we can infer that CuONPs have the potential to be used as an alternative tool to combat pathogenic microbes and exhibit the notable properties of low effective concentrations and low toxicity.…”