Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) have demonstrated the successful use of nanomaterials (silver, silicon, selenium, and nickel nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation) to combat nematodes.
🍅 The experiment was conducted on tomato seeds. Before planting, the seeds were soaked in colloidal solutions of the indicated nanoparticles for 2 hours. Three weeks after germination, some of the plants were infested with nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita and M. Arenaria) and sprayed with solutions of the preparation in the same concentrations that the seeds were treated with.
The results of the experiment showed that exogenous treatment of plants with nanoparticles inhibited the morpho-physiological parameters of parasites in the roots, and also reduced the infestation of roots with nematodes.
In addition, the use of nanomaterials stimulated the processes of plant growth and development, and also had a stimulating effect on plant resistance indicators.
Thus, the obtained results allow us to consider nanoparticles as new abiogenic inducers of systemic plant resistance to nematodes.
Source: GlavAgronom