Nanoparticle-Induced Changes in Resistance and Resilience of Sensitive Microbial Indicators towards Heat Stress in Soil

Abhishek Kumar, Rajiv Rakshit, Arnab Bhowmik, Nintu Mandal, Anupam Das and Samrat Adhikary
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Abhishek Kumar: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, Bihar Sabour 813 210, India
Rajiv Rakshit: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, Bihar Sabour 813 210, India
Arnab Bhowmik: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA
Nintu Mandal: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, Bihar Sabour 813 210, India
Anupam Das: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, Bihar Sabour 813 210, India
Samrat Adhikary: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, Bihar Sabour 813 210, India

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Modern agricultural innovations with nanomaterials are now being applied in every sphere of agriculture. However, their interaction with soil microbial processes is not being explored in detail. This initiative was undertaken to understand the effect of metal-oxide nanoparticles with heat stress in soil. Metal-oxide nanoparticles, zinc oxide (ZnO), and iron oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ) (each at 10 and 40 mg kg −1 w/w) were mixed into uncontaminated soil and subjected to heat stress of 48 °C for 24 hours to assess their effect on soil biological indicators. The resistance indices for the acid (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing (FDA) activity (0.58 to 0.73, 0.58 to 0.66, and 0.42 to 0.48, respectively) were higher in the presence of ZnO nanoparticles as compared to Fe 2 O 3 nanomaterials, following an unpredictable pattern at either 10 or 40 mg kg −1 in soils, except dehydrogenase activity (DHA), for which the activity did not change with ZnO nanomaterial. An explicit role of ZnO nanomaterial in the revival pattern of the enzymes was observed (0.20 for DHA, 0.39 for ACP, and 0.43 for AKP), except FDA, which showed comparable values with Fe 2 O 3 nanomaterials for the following 90 day (d) after stress. Microbial count exhibiting higher resistance values were associated with Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles as compared to ZnO nanomaterials, except Pseudomonas . The recovery indices for the microbial counts were higher with the application of Fe 2 O 3 nanomaterials (0.34 for Actinobacteria, 0.38 for fungi, 0.33 for Pseudomonas and 0.28 for Azotobacter ). Our study emphasizes the fact that sensitive microbial indicators in soil might be hampered by external stress initially but do have the competency to recover with time, thereby reinstating the resistance and resilience of soil systems.

Keywords: heat stress; microbial count; zinc and iron oxide nanoparticles; resistance; restoration; soil enzymes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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