Abstract
Modern agricultural innovations with nanomaterials are now being applied in every sphere of agriculture. However, their interaction with soil microbial processes is not being explored in detail. This initiative was undertaken to understand the effect of metal-oxide nanoparticles with heat stress in soil. Metal-oxide nanoparticles, zinc oxide (ZnO), and iron oxide (Fe2O3) (each at 10 and 40 mg kg−1 w/w) were mixed into uncontaminated soil and subjected to heat stress of 48 °C for 24 hours to assess their effect on soil biological indicators. The resistance indices for the acid (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing (FDA) activity (0.58 to 0.73, 0.58 to 0.66, and 0.42 to 0.48, respectively) were higher in the presence of ZnO nanoparticles as compared to Fe2O3 nanomaterials, following an unpredictable pattern at either 10 or 40 mg kg−1 in soils, except dehydrogenase activity (DHA), for which the activity did not change with ZnO nanomaterial. An explicit role of ZnO nanomaterial in the revival pattern of the enzymes was observed (0.20 for DHA, 0.39 for ACP, and 0.43 for AKP), except FDA, which showed comparable values with Fe2O3 nanomaterials for the following 90 day (d) after stress. Microbial count exhibiting higher resistance values were associated with Fe2O3 nanoparticles as compared to ZnO nanomaterials, except Pseudomonas. The recovery indices for the microbial counts were higher with the application of Fe2O3 nanomaterials (0.34 for Actinobacteria, 0.38 for fungi, 0.33 for Pseudomonas and 0.28 for Azotobacter). Our study emphasizes the fact that sensitive microbial indicators in soil might be hampered by external stress initially but do have the competency to recover with time, thereby reinstating the resistance and resilience of soil systems.
Highlights
Nanomaterials are being increasingly used owing to their exclusive properties making them valuable for copious agricultural applications
DHA:dehydrogenase activity; ACP:acid phosphatase activity; AKP:alkaline phosphatase activity; fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing (FDA):fluorescein diacetatehydrolyzing capacity; MBC:microbial biomass carbon; Actino:Actinobacteria; Pseudo:Pseudomonas; Azo:Azotobacter; *Correlation is significant at p < 0.05; ** Correlation is significant at p < 0.01
The response of microbial populations and associated enzymes to exogenous stimuli is a promising field of study globally, and this experiment was designed to evaluate the impact of synthetic nanomaterials on the buffering of biological activity after heat stress, despite their current application as a smart delivery system for controlled-release formulations [24]
Summary
Nanomaterials are being increasingly used owing to their exclusive properties (high aspect ratio; surface area to volume ratio) making them valuable for copious agricultural applications. Considering heat as an abiotic stress, in this study, we hypothesized that addition of nanomaterials could have considerable implications on these soil microflora and enzymes and influence the resistance and resilience of soil organisms against high temperature. To test this hypothesis, an incubation experiment was conducted to evaluate the abundance of microbial groups, microbial biomass, and enzyme activities in soils amended with nanomaterials and elucidate the resistance and resilience of soil microbes and associated enzymes against heat stress. Thorough scientific study on the impact assessment of nanomaterials on the soil microbial community and its trend prediction are necessary to understand the behavior of organisms and associated soil enzymes
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