Title : Anti-fungal efficacy of ZnO nanoparticles against ustilago tritici
Abstract:
Human population is increasing day after day and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, therefore the need and demand for food production is also increasing. Wheat is the one of most important and basic staple food worldwide. With this continuously increasing human population the demand for food production is also increasing, but unfortunately wheat production in Pakistan is not meeting the needs. There are numerous threatening diseases of wheat which effect production of wheat negatively, while Loose smut of wheat caused by Ustilago tritici is most important. Loose smut of wheat produces notable symptom at maturity as its kernels and glumes became partially or fully covered with blackish masses, which are actually spores of fungal pathogens. These infected spores deteriorate the kernels of crop which left the bare stems behind, thus reducing the yield. Appearance of dark green color stem with erect leaves, prior to heading is the clear symptoms of loose smut, sometimes yellow streaks appear on crop which causes complete loss of kernels of infected heads. This disease is most common disease of wheat which causes huge yield losses. U. tritici is the member biotrophic fungi shows feeding relationship with the living cells of their hosts. There is no such effective fungicide which is economic, eco-friendly with and is based on advance drug delivery system still available commonly for local farmers. Wheat is cultivated locally in order to meet the food requirements of people living in rural areas thus they are unaware of synthetic fungicides and could not afford expensive treatments. Therefore, keeping in view, the importance of wheat crops an experimental study was designed to prepare plant-based nanoparticles having anti-fungal potential against these biotrophic parasites. Present study is novel and advance because ZnO Nps were prepared for the first time to evaluate their anti-fungal potential against U. tritici. Nanoparticles of zinc oxide had been previously reported to enhance yield and growth of wheat therefore impact of these particles on yield of crop was also recorded. Application of these metallic nanoparticles on crop is marked as safe and an eco-friendly approach as there were no symptom of phytotoxicity afterwards. Pakistan is steadily among the top ten most prone countries to climate change and has witnessed adverse impacts due to climate extremes in recent past. Value and Importance of wheat could not be denied as this is the most important food crop which covers the one-fifth of the world’s food. No doubt the demand for wheat in the developing world is projected to increase 60% by 2050. Therefore, both production and protection strategies for the cultivation of wheat is an important concern now a days.
Audience Take Away:
- Application of these metallic nanoparticles attempted for the first time against fungal pathogens of wheat crop
- Present experimental approach is itself novel as it covers the research gaps in agriculture
- It will help audience to design such kind of novel studies so that cost effective treatments for controlling wheat diseases, so that demand of food production is achieved
- It will be more helpful to design an eco-friendly/ organic fungicides.
- It will be helpful to prepare an organic solution to the most devastating diseases of wheat crops having a great potential to increase the yield and growth of crop.
