PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL EFFECTS OF AG NANOPARTICLES ON WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.)

Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are considered as one of the most promising nanoparticles and have already been applied in many consumer products. The objective of our research is to study the toxic effects of Ag NPs on wheat seedlings growth. The concentrations of Ag NPs were 10, 50, 200 and 1000 mg/L respectively, and a blank control without any Ag NPs was set. The seedlings were cultivated in Hoagland solution with Ag NPs for 18 days after germination. According to our results, it demonstrated that the Ag NPs showed no significant toxic effects on wheat seedlings during the period of cultivation. After exposed to Ag nanopartilces, contents hormones including ABA, ZR, GA3, BR, JA and DHZR changed irregularly or increased slightly, while IPA and IAA contents raised as the concentrations of Ag NPs increased. Compared with the control treatments, contents of Ag are much higher in groups exposed to Ag NPs. As for 1000 mg/L treatments, the content of Ag was 4.4-fold higher than control in shoots and 11.3-fold higher than control in roots. However, there was no significant tendency that total Ag content increased with the Ag NPs concentration enrichment.