Abstract
There is an emerging scientific interest in the use of nanoparticle fertilizers for enhanced agricultural and bioenergy crop production to meet the growing food and energy demands of the world. The objective of designing the nanoparticle fertilizers is to effectively deliver the required nutrients for the plants without adding large quantities of fertilizer to the environment. However, most reports on nanoparticle fertilizers so far, involved the addition of nanoparticles to the hydroponic system or the soil. In this study, we report a new modified seed presoak strategy using a drop of Fe-enriching hematite nanoparticle dispersion to enhance plant growth and production in four different legume species, i.e., chickpea, green gram, black bean, and red bean. The hematite nanoparticle fertilizer drop promoted a 230-830% increase in plant growth with green gram showing the highest increase, based on our prolonged and statistically reliable growth studies. In general, we observed an increase in the survival span of plants, a twofold increase in fruit production per plant, nearly two times faster fruit production, and healthy second-generation plants with the nanoparticle treatment; however, there were slight species-specific variations. We used a novel multimodal material characterization approach combining three techniques, hyperspectral imaging, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), to evaluate the internalization and transport of the nanoparticle fertilizer within the plants. Our results indicated that the hematite nanoparticles were transported through the roots and stems and were localized in the leaves after 10 days of growth in pots of soil. Therefore, the modified seed presoaking method using a drop of hematite nanoparticle will be highly attractive in enhancing plant growth and health, while minimizing environmental impacts.
Highlights
Iron (Fe) is a key element for several cellular reactions in plants such as respiration and the formation of chlorophyll required for photosynthesis
We investigated the effectiveness of an Fe-enriching hematite (α-Fe2O3) NP fertilizer to boost plant growth and production using four different species of legumes as model plants
The germinated seeds were potted in soil after 7 days. Using this modified seed presoak method, we investigated the role of our new hematite NP fertilizer on the shoot growth of four different species of legumes
Summary
Iron (Fe) is a key element for several cellular reactions in plants such as respiration and the formation of chlorophyll required for photosynthesis. Plants have adopted a mechanism to acquire this essential nutrient from the soil using the apoplastic pathway through the roots, but limited Fe is available in some soil types or in soils with excessive agricultural use [1, 2]. Fe-enriching fertilizers are required to ensure optimum Fe delivery to the plants. There has been a thrust to develop innovative fertilizer formulations like nanoparticle (NP) fertilizers because conventional fertilizers are required in large quantities owing to their slower absorption by the plants [4,5,6]. The NP fertilizers can facilitate tunable delivery of the required nutrients to the plants. NP fertilizers are seen as highly promising candidates for enhanced production of agricultural and bioenergy crops to meet the growing food and energy demands of the world population [5, 7,8,9]
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