Abstract
Trichoderma spp. are well known biocontrol agents used against phytopathogens. In the present work Trichoderma-mediated Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) were synthesized and extent of downy mildew (DM) disease control in pearl millet (PM) was studied. Six species of Trichoderma namely, T. asperellum, T. harzianum, T. atroviride, T. virens, T. longibrachiatum and T. brevicompactum were evaluated in the form of culture filtrate (CF), cell lysate (CL) and crude cell wall (CW) to synthesize SeNPs. All these components produced SeNPs, but CF was significant than CL and CW. The size of SeNPs ranged from 49.5 to 312.5 nm with zeta potential of +3.3 mv to −200 mv. The nanoparticles suppressed the growth, sporulation and zoospore viability of Sclerospora graminicola and these biological activities were inversely proportional to the size of SeNPs. Under greenhouse conditions, application of SeNPs and T. asperellum together enhanced the early plant growth and suppressed DM incidence as compared to their individual application. This study demonstrated the ability of Trichogenic-SeNPs to suppress growth and proliferation of S. graminicola, the incitant of DM of PM and their activity is inversely proportional to size of nanoparticles.
Highlights
Selenium (Se) is a naturally occurring mineral in soil and being absorbed and accumulated by plants thereby entering the food chain
The Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) were synthesized with 25 mM sodium selenite using culture filtrate (CF), cell lysate (CL) and crude cell wall (CW) of 6 different Trichoderma spp. [T. asperellum (T.as), T. harzianum (T.ha), T. atroviride (T.at), T. virens (T.vi), T. longibrachiatum (T.lo) and T. brevicompactum (T.br)]
In CF, formation of nanoparticles by the reduction of selenite ions could be visualized as change in solution color from pale yellow to insoluble orange-red within 12 h after incubation but in CL and CW, it was observed after 24 h (Fig. 1)
Summary
Selenium (Se) is a naturally occurring mineral in soil and being absorbed and accumulated by plants thereby entering the food chain. There is increasing interest in the synthesis of SeNPs using green nanobiotechnology which include microorganisms and plants or their byproducts (Secondary metabolites, proteins/enzymes, and lipids) with assistance of various biotechnological tools[25, 26]. These methods are ecofriendly, cost effective, overcome toxic and harsh chemicals, and do not need high energy. Trichoderma spp. thrives under varying environmental conditions because of their high adaptability to growth regulation, sporulation and secretion of lytic enzymes[31] These fungi are known to resist/tolerate most of the pesticides used in agriculture[32,33,34]. The genus Trichoderma is explored for the production of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as it produced most positive results[35,36,37,38]
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