Role of phytofabricated gold nanoparticles for enhancing sustainable Spinacia oleracea L. production
Mohammad Amir, Abdul Raheem, Amit Kumar, Syed Uzma Jalil, Mo Shadab, Nasreen Ghazi Ansari, Mohammad Israil Ansari, Mohammad Israil Ansari
Abstract
Nanotechnology has recently fascinated the major thrust in agricultural researchas a means to enhance crop production and ensure food security. The present work was designed to fabricate spinach assisted gold nanoparticles (S-AuNPs) by exploiting the proteins of spinach leaves ( Spinacia oleracea L.) and to evaluate their potential on seed germination, growth profile, physiological traits and biochemical attribute including photosynthetic pigments, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant status of spinach. Seeds treatedwith low S-AuNPs concentrations (50–200 µM) improved the growth parameters (shoot length, number of leaves/plant, and shoot dry weight) and physiological traits such as stomatal density, transpiration rate, stomatal pore length and width of spinach plant. Moreover, biochemical constituents like photosynthetic pigment (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid) and free radical scavenging enzymes were also improved thus enhanced the yield of plant.However, higher concentrations of S-AuNPs (250 and 300 µM) had adverse effects, reducing the aforementioned morphological parameters and inducing the production of ROS , causing cellular oxidative stress and negatively impacting growth and photosynthetic efficiency.The study found that 150µM S-AuNPs concentrations were most effective since they led to the greatest increases in the examined parameters.