Abstract
Fungicides have been extensively used to control fungal diseases that affect several crops including ornamental crops. However, concerns have arisen due to a development of fungicide resistance and increasing incidences of fungicide toxicity effects on nontarget organisms. As zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have demonstrated effective antimicrobial activity, this study is therefore aimed at synthesizing ZnO NPs from banana peels using a green chemistry method in a large scale and determines their physical properties including their inhibitory effects against a plant pathogen fungus causing anthracnose in orchids, Colletotrichum sp. Results from X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope indicated that the synthesized ZnO NPs were obtained without other crystalline impurities, and they were spherical in shape with the average diameter of 256 ± 40 nm , respectively. The absorption peak was found to be centered at ~370 nm with the optical band gap value approximately 2.8 eV. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of several functional groups on synthesized ZnO NPs. The total amount of synthesized ZnO NPs was obtained about 170 g for a synthesis reaction. By performing the antifungal activity assay, high doses of green synthesized ZnO NPs significantly inhibited growth of isolated Colletotrichum sp. (KUFC 021) on culture plates. Under greenhouse conditions, high doses of synthesized ZnO NPs also significantly reduced anthracnose symptoms on inoculated orchid leaves with the Colletotrichum sp. (KUFC 021).
Highlights
Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have been shown to efficiently control microbial growth [1]
This study was designed to simplify a green synthesis of ZnO NPs without requirement of a laboratory centrifuge or microwave and aimed to obtain high yield of ZnO NPs
The dispersed ZnO NPs in deionized water shows the absorption peak centered at ~370 nm (Figure 1(c))
Summary
Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have been shown to efficiently control microbial growth [1]. They are cheaper than silver nanoparticles with very high photocatalytic efficiency [2] and more biocompatible than other inorganic photocatalytic materials such as titanium dioxide [3]. They are popularly employed as an active antimicrobial agent in food packaging [4], in the textile industry [5], paints [6], and plastics [7]. Green synthesized ZnO NPs have been demonstrated as high-potential antifungal agents against plant pathogenic fungi
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