Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Plant height increased significantly (
P
< 0.05) when crops were irrigated with magnetite,
hematite, or titanium dioxide nanoparticles, compared with the control treatment. However,
magnetite had no significant effect on the chlorophyll content compared with the control
treatment. Contrary results showed that magnetite nanoparticles negatively influenced the
photosynthetic pigment biosynthesis by diminishing the chlorophyll content by up to 50%
when sunflowers were cultivated in culture medium (Ursache-Oprisan et al., 2011).
Additionally, the plant heights of maize, common bean, and sunflower were not affected by
any of the tested nanoparticles (Table 2).
The length of roots decreased significantly in maize, common bean, and sunflower plants
when these plants were irrigated with magnetite, but there was no significant effect when
other nanoparticles were used during the irrigation event. Mushtaq (2011) studied the effect
of magnetite and TiO
2
on cucumber. He found several inhibitory effects, including reductions
in root growth and seed germination percentages. In the germinating test for all cases, he
observed some perturbations of the normal functions with respect to control.
Ferrihydrite and zinc oxide produced a significant increase (
P
< 0.05) in the fresh weight
of roots and the dry weight of shoots, respectively, compared with the other treatments (Table
2). In both maize and cabbage, Pokhrel and Dubey (2013) found that measures of germination
and root elongation revealed low nano-ZnO toxicity, compared to free ions. Kumari et al.
(2011) demonstrated that ZnO nanoparticles can be a clastogenic/genotoxic and cytotoxic
agent on root cells of
Allium cepa
.
Magnetite and titanium dioxide showed a significant decrease (
P
< 0.05) in the dry
weight of roots, compared with the other treatments. Song et al. (2013) showed that TiO
2
nanoparticles were absorbed into the stems, leaves, and fruits of tomato plants. In addition,
they found that exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles resulted in acute toxicity upon
germination and significantly decreased root elongation at each concentration tested. Neither
ferrihydrite nor zinc oxide nanoparticles affected maize, common bean, or sunflower
(Table 2).
Further studies of the environmental and ecological effects of nanoparticles and strategies
to mitigate its inappropriate agricultural use are required. In addition, scientific, technical, or
agricultural projects linked with nanofertilizers must include environmental side effects such
as pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecological damage in order to ensure a
sustainable future.
C
ONCLUSION
The increasing applications of different nanomaterials in the myriad nano-enabled
products and their potential for environmental pollution have raised environmental, health,
and safety concerns. Knowledge of nanoparticles in soils and investigations on nanoparticle-
crop interactions are still rare and in the rudimentary stages. Nevertheless, nanoparticles in
agricultural systems may potentially be used as appropriate candidates for change in the
growth, development, productivity, and quality of plants. However, despite the many
advantages of nanoparticles, there are still concerns that their introduction into soil in order to
enhance plant yield may have adverse environmental effects, such as an environmental
pollution source or a food-chain pollution source. Indeed, the phytotoxicity research on
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