Effect of foliar application of engineered nanomaterials: carbon nanotubes NPK and chitosan nanoparticles NPK fertilizer on the growth of French bean plant

Abstract

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the agriculture with new tools to enhancing the ability of plants to absorb nutrients. The uptake of nanomaterials by plants has shown a very recent field of nano agriculture. This work was designed to investigate the beneficial effects of two different types of engineered nanofertilizer namely: carbon nanotubes coated NPK and chitosan nanoparticles NPK on French bean. Here in, we explore the potential influence of different concentration of chitosan nanoparticles loaded with NPK and carbon nanotubes loaded with NPK on the different growth criteria of French bean plants. It was hypothesized that nanomaterials were able to penetrate the plant cell by endocytosis. The results of the combined morphological and anatomical analysis indicate that after about 30 days from the date of planting our experimental conditions, nanomaterials either alone or in combination significantly enhances plant growth and biomass compared to control. TEM images of French bean leaves show the presence of nanomaterials in vascular bundles specifically in sieve tubes of phloem elements in case of chitosan-NPK and in both xylem vessels and sieve tubes in case of carbon nanotubes- NPK. Overall after investigation we conclude that low dose of nanofertilizers have seen to be beneficial, improving water absorption and nutrients uptake, found to enhance the growth of the plants.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, chitosan, French bean, nano-fertilizer, transmission electron microscope, uptake.