Name of Institute:- CAZRI Jodhpur
Title:Effect of nano particles on different metabolites and biochemical
pathways of nutrient metabolism in plants and its transformation in rhizosphere
impacting soil health.
Name of the PI:- Dr. Praveen Kumar
Main Objectives:
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Effect of nanoparticles (Mo, Mn, Cu, and Fe) on plant metabolism in wheat,
pearl millet, clusterbean and mung bean.
Effect of above nano particles on microbiological and biochemical parameters
in rhizosphere of wheat, pearl, millet, clusterbean and mung bean.
Effect of nanoparticles (Mo, Mn, Cu and Fe) on overall soil health.
Reports:Isolation of fungal cultures for microbial synthesis of nano-particles:
14 fungal cultures were raised and multiplied on suitable culture media and are being
maintained at 40C for their further use fornano-particle synthesis. Some of the genera
are as follows: Agaricus(02 sps.),Agrocybea(01 sp.),Auricularia(01 sp.),Calocybe(01
sp),Lentin(01 sp.),Pleurotus(06 sps.), Phanerochaete(01 sp.) and Schizophyllum(01
sp.). These fungal species were tried with various manganese salts for synthesis of
nano-particles but no significant results were observed. Other fungal cultures are also
being raised from fruiting bodies collected from wild.
Biosynthesis of Copper Nano-particles:
Two soil samples collected from local fields of CAZRI were processed for isolation of
fungi. Nine fungal isolates were purified and maintained for further studies. Three
fungal isolates were screened for biosynthesis of nanoparticles of copper by using
copper sulphate and copper acetate, none of them showed biosynthesis of
nanoparticles. Simultaneously, plant extract/material of biological origin were also
screened for biosynthesis of nanoparticles of copper from copper sulphate and copper
acetate, with one sample showing biosynthesis of nano-particles (25% particles below
100nm with average particle size of 142 nm) from copper acetate as observed by
Delsa Nano C particle size analyzer (Fig 1) after 24 hours.
Fig 1. Particle size distribution of copper nanoparticles using Delsa Nano C Particle
Analyzer
Biosynthesis of Molybdenum Nano-particles:
A consortium of three fungus was attempted for the production of nano-particles of
molybdenum. The mycelia extracts of these fungiwere added to solution of sodium
molybdate and kept on slow speed shaker at room temperature. The observations on
nano-particle production using particle analyzer revealed formation of nano-particles
within 2 hours of the setting up of the experiment. Particle analysis indicated 5.7%
scattering of light by nano-particles in size range of 51.7-97.3 nm (Fig 2). This
increased to 14% with nano-particles in the range of 20-36.3 nm after 4 days of setting
up of the experiment.
Fig 2. Particle size distribution of molybdenum nanoparticles using Delsa Nano C
Particle Analyzer.