Biomimetic synthesis and use of silver nanoparticles, an innocuous stratagem to combat fungal diseases in plants

In the era of antimicrobial resistance, the creation of novel nanoparticles with resilient antimicrobial activity and the need to progress a comprehensive approach to fight pathogenic fungi is critical. Due to the immense range of variations of Calotropis procera phytochemicals, their versatile functionalization, and the possibility of multi-valent binding sites make it preeminent for use in the present research to synthesize antifungal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The UV-visible (UV-vis) spectrum of AgNPs displayed the multiple Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) peaks with lambda Max 350 nm, 408 nm, 584 nm, 635 nm and 654 nm and sweeping change in spectrum revealed shape anisotropy. The multifunctional moieties of phytochemicals explored with Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrum showed S=O, P=O, -NH, -OH and C=O functional groups involved in a redox reaction that served as capping/stabilizing agents for created amphiphilic colloidal AgNPs structures. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed Face Centered Cubic (FCC) shaped Nano-sized silver. The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analysis displayed predominant prism shape AgNPs with different size collections having a mean size of 28.8 nm. The significant in vitro antifungal activity against plant and human pathogenic fungus Scopulariopsis alboflavescens was observed using the disk diffusion method, and it was resolved that biogenic synthesis of AgNPs from plants will be a safe strategy to combat fungal diseases in plants.