The twenty-first century is an era of Nanotechnology which deals with nanomaterials both in products & processes. The increasing utilization of products containing these nanoparticles is resulting in the release of nanoparticles into atmospheric, aquatic, and terrestrial environments during their manufacturing, transport, utilization, and disposal processes. This raises environmental concerns since these metals can lixiviate from the material and contaminate water and soil, affecting both plants and animals. Not many studies are present to check the phytotoxicity of nanoparticles. Hence an in vitro effort is made to check the toxicity levels of widely used nanomaterials. The phytotoxicity of silicon dioxide nanoparticles is evaluated as a function of concentration (600 to 1200ppm) toward Vigna radiata grown in culture bottles in Murashige and Skoog medium (MS medium, 1962) for 2 weeks. The phytotoxic effects are observed in the form of reduced development and chlorosis in the plants. The higher concentration of nanoparticles is attributed to the accumulation of the nanoparticles in the root system of the plants and this is supported by both morphological analysis and phytochemical assays. This study demonstrates that the silicon dioxide nanoparticles enhances the growth of Vigna radiata at low concentrations but turns toxic at higher concentrations (1000ppm) and is observed to hamper plant growth.

1.        Slomberg DL, Schoenfisch MH. Silica nanoparticle phytotoxicity to Arabidopsis thaliana. Environ Sci Technol. 2012 Sep 18;46(18):10247-54. doi: 10.1021/es300949f, PMID 22889047.

2.          Raghunath A, Perumal E. Metal oxide nanoparticles as antimicrobial agents: A promise for the future. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2017 Feb 1;49(2):137-52. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2016.11.011,PMID 28089172.

3.         Rastogi A, Zivcak M, Sytar O, Kalaji HM, He X, Mbarki S, Brestic M. Impact of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles on plant: A critical review. Front Chem. 2017 Oct 12;5:78. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2017.00078, PMID 29075626.

4.          Keller AA, Wang H, Zhou D, Lenihan HS, Cherr G, Cardinale BJ, Miller R, Ji Z. Stability and aggregation of metal oxide nanoparticles in natural aqueous matrices. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Mar 15;44(6):1962-7. doi: 10.1021/es902987d, PMID 20151631.

5.       Kapoor V, Phan D, Pasha ABMT. Effects of metal oxide nanoparticles on nitrification in wastewater treatment systems: A systematic review. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2018 Jun 7;53(7):659-68. doi: 10.1080/10934529.2018.1438825, PMID 29469639.

6.     Siddiqi KS, Husen A. Plant response to engineered metal oxide nanoparticles. Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Dec;12(1):92. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-1861-y, PMID 28168616.

7.          Horikoshi SA, Serpone NI. Introduction to nanoparticles. Microwaves in Nanoparticle Synthesis: Fundamentals and Applications. John Wiley Publication, 2013 Apr 24, pp 1-24.

8.          Miralles P, Church TL, Harris AT. Toxicity, uptake, and translocation of engineered nanomaterials in vascular plants. Environ Sci Technol. 2012 Sep 4;46(17):9224-39. doi: 10.1021/es202995d, PMID 22892035.

9.      Ruttkay-Nedecky B, Krystofova O, Nejdl L, Adam V. Nanoparticles based on essential metals and their phytotoxicity. J Nanobiotechnology. 2017 Dec; 15(1): 33. doi: 10.1186/s12951-017-0268-3, PMID 28446250.

10.       Kavuli?ová J, Kaduková J, Ivánová D. The evaluation of heavy metal toxicity in plants using the biochemical tests. Nova Biotechnol Chim. 2012 Dec1;11(2):101-10. doi: 10.2478/v10296-012-0011-2.

11.       Ritchie RJ. Universal chlorophyll equations for estimating chlorophylls a, b, c, and d and total chlorophylls in natural assemblages of photosynthetic organisms using acetone, methanol, or ethanol solvents. Photosynthetica. 2008 Mar 1;46(1):115-26. doi: 10.1007/s11099-008-0019-7.

12.       Lee WM, An YJ, Yoon H, Kweon HS. Toxicity and bioavailability of copper nanoparticles to the terrestrial plants mung bean (Phaseolus radiatus) and wheat (Triticum aestivum): plant agar test for water?insoluble nanoparticles. Environ Toxicol Chem. 2008 Sep;27(9):1915-21. doi: 10.1897/07-481.1, PMID 19086317.

13.      Mahajan P, Dhoke SK, Khanna AS. Effect of nano-ZnO particle suspension on growth of mung (Vigna radiata) and gram (Cicer arietinum) seedlings using plant agar method. J Nanobiotechnology. 2011;2011:1-7. doi: 10.1155/2011/696535.

14.      Lin D, Xing B. Phytotoxicity of nanoparticles: inhibition of seed germination and root growth. Environ Pollut. 2007 Nov 1;150(2):243-50.  doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2007.01.016, PMID 17374428.

15.       Saad AI, Elshahed AM. Plant tissue culture media. Recent advances in plant in vitro culture. Tech Publ. 2012 Oct 17:30-40.

16. King Saud University,. Saudi Arabia. Methodology [Internet] [cited 2020 10 August] Available from: http://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/methodology.pdf.

17.      Arun Kumar D, Merline Shyla J, Xavier FP. Synthesis and characterization of TiO2/SiO2 Nano composites for solar Cell Applications. Appl Nanosci. 2012;2(4):429-36. doi: 10.1007/s13204-012-0060-5.