Department of Biology, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America.
Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Aug 28;13(8):e0202274. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202274. eCollection 2018.
Bioenergy crops are an attractive option for use in energy production. A good plant candidate for bioenergy applications should produce a high amount of biomass and resist harsh environmental conditions. Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) have been described as promising seed germination and plant growth regulators. In this paper, we tested the impact of two CBNs: graphene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on germination and biomass production of two major bioenergy crops (sorghum and switchgrass). The application of graphene and CNTs increased the germination rate of switchgrass seeds and led to an early germination of sorghum seeds. The exposure of switchgrass to graphene (200 mg/l) resulted in a 28% increase of total biomass produced compared to untreated plants. We tested the impact of CBNs on bioenergy crops under salt stress conditions and discovered that CBNs can significantly reduce symptoms of salt stress imposed by the addition of NaCl into the growth medium. Using an ion selective electrode, we demonstrated that the concentration of Na+ ions in NaCl solution can be significantly decreased by the addition of CNTs to the salt solution. Our data confirmed the potential of CBNs as plant growth regulators for non-food crops and demonstrated the role of CBNs in the protection of plants against salt stress by desalination of saline growth medium.
生物能源作物是能源生产中极具吸引力的选择。对于生物能源应用来说，一种理想的植物候选品种应具有较高的生物量和抵御恶劣环境条件的能力。碳基纳米材料（CBNs）被描述为有前途的种子萌发和植物生长调节剂。在本文中，我们测试了两种 CBNs（石墨烯和多壁碳纳米管（CNTs））对两种主要生物能源作物（高粱和柳枝稷）的萌发和生物量生产的影响。石墨烯和 CNTs 的应用增加了柳枝稷种子的萌发率，并导致高粱种子的早期萌发。与未处理的植物相比，暴露于石墨烯（200mg/l）的柳枝稷的总生物量增加了 28%。我们测试了 CBNs 在盐胁迫条件下对生物能源作物的影响，发现 CBNs 可以显著减轻向生长培养基中添加 NaCl 所引起的盐胁迫症状。通过使用离子选择性电极，我们证明了向盐溶液中添加 CNTs 可以显著降低 NaCl 溶液中 Na+离子的浓度。我们的数据证实了 CBNs 作为非食用作物的植物生长调节剂的潜力，并证明了 CBNs 在通过淡化盐生培养基来保护植物免受盐胁迫方面的作用。
