Assessment of the Phytotoxicity of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles on Two Crop Plants, Maize (Zea mays L.) and Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Zhongzhou Yang¹  Jing Chen¹  Runzhi Dou¹  Xiang Gao¹  Chuanbin Mao²  Li Wang¹ 

[1] Institute of Genetics and Cytology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China;;Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA

关键词: phytotoxicity;    metal oxide nanoparticles;    maize;    rice;    germination;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph121214963

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this study, the phytotoxicity of seven metal oxide nanoparticles(NPs)—titanium dioxide (nTiO₂), silicon dioxide (nSiO₂), cerium dioxide (nCeO₂), magnetite (nFe₃O₄), aluminum oxide (nAl₂O₃), zinc oxide (nZnO) and copper oxide (nCuO)—was assessed on two agriculturally significant crop plants (maize and rice). The results showed that seed germination was not affected by any of the seven metal oxide NPs. However, at the concentration of 2000 mg·L⁻¹, the root elongation was significantly inhibited by nCuO (95.73% for maize and 97.28% for rice), nZnO (50.45% for maize and 66.75% for rice). On the contrary, minor phytotoxicity of nAl₂O₃ was only observed in maize, and no obvious toxic effects were found in the other four metal oxide NPs. By further study we found that the phytotoxic effects of nZnO, nAl₂O₃ and nCuO (25 to 2000 mg·L⁻¹) were concentration dependent, and were not caused by the corresponding Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Al³⁺ ions (0.11 mg·L⁻¹, 1.27 mg·L⁻¹ and 0.74 mg·L⁻¹, respectively). Furthermore, ZnO NPs (<50 nm) showed greater toxicity than ZnO microparticles(MPs)(<5 μm) to root elongation of both maize and rice. Overall, this study provided valuable information for the application of engineered NPs in agriculture and the assessment of the potential environmental risks.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.