Can nanoparticles boost the growth and nutrient offerings of tomato plants and not add to the strain on natural resources as the world meets increasing global food demand?
Likely yes, according to the findings of a new study conducted by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and published in the journal Metallomics.
Taking off from their solar cell research, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ramesh Raliya and professor Dr. Pratim Biswas, both of the university's School of Engineering and Applied Science, discovered that using titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles led tomato plants to better absorb light and minerals, as well as to exhibit higher antioxidant properties.
In the study, nanoparticles-treated plants through the researchers' novel aerosolization methods produced almost 82 percent more fruit by weight than untreated ones. Tomatoes from the treated group had increased lycopene, an antioxidant associated with reduced risks of cancer, heart condition, and age-related eye conditions, of 80 to 113 percent.
Dr. Biswas explained that during its growth, plants signal its nutrient requirements to the soil - in a shape not readily taken so they secrete enzymes, which react with the soil and prompt bacterial microbes to convert the nutrients into useful form.
The researchers aimed to aid this pathway by incorporating nanoparticles.
Zinc, an essential plant nutrient that is part of conventional fertilizers, assists in the proper functioning of other enzymes. Titanium, while not an essential plant nutrient, is found in the solar cell creation of Biswas' team to enhance light absorption through raising chlorophyll in the leaves and promoting photosynthesis.
Using a very fine spray, the researchers deposited the nanoparticles directly on the plant leaves. The aerosol technique led to a much better plant nutrient uptake compared to applying nanoparticles to soil.
"A plant can only uptake about 20 percent of the nutrients applied through soil," Dr. Raliya said, adding that the remainder either forms stable complexes with soil constituents or becomes washed away with water and causing runoff - both scenarios depriving plants of nutrients.
Raliya believed that these tomatoes will likely contribute to solving malnutrition, allowing people to obtain more nutrients than from conventionally produced tomatoes, and help optimize water use given the climate change problem.
Using nanotechnology in agricultural nations such as China and India had been previously shown to reduce malnutrition as well as child death rates.
The team is now developing a new nanonutrient formulation that comprises all the 17 elements plants require.
Photo: Ajith Kumar | Flickr
