O'Keefe Tana L, Tuga Beza, Deng Chaoyi, Mohamud Sharmaka, Jamous Rima, Sanders Mark A, Elmer Wade H, White Jason C, Haynes Christy L
Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis MN 55455 USA
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station New Haven Connecticut 06511 USA.
Chem Sci. 2025 Mar 18;16(17):7249-7263. doi: 10.1039/d4sc08566c. eCollection 2025 Apr 30.
Agrochemical delivery is highly inefficient, and novel application methods are necessary to promote crop health and yields while reducing environmental impact. In this work, a vacuum infiltration seed priming strategy was developed to incorporate silica nanoparticles into soybeans. Although successful in initial greenhouse and field studies, little is known about the amount of nutrient being delivered and the conditions for optimum accumulation. Herein, various infiltration conditions were evaluated using fluorescent silica nanoparticles and confocal microscopy, including nanoparticle surface charge and concentration, infiltration time, infiltrate ionic strength and pH, and seed presoaking. Negative nanoparticle surface charge, higher nanoparticle concentration, shorter infiltration time, and potassium-based salts resulted in greater nanoparticle infiltration. Seed coat elemental analysis complemented fluorescence data and highlighted the co-delivery of beneficial macronutrients including potassium and magnesium under ionic salt infiltration conditions. Overall, these findings illustrate a new strategy to biofortify nanoscale nutrients into soybean seeds that can be expanded into other agrochemical targets and crop species to promote sustainable agriculture.
农用化学品的施用效率极低，因此需要新的施用方法来促进作物健康和提高产量，同时减少对环境的影响。在这项工作中，开发了一种真空渗透种子引发策略，将二氧化硅纳米颗粒引入大豆中。尽管在初步的温室和田间研究中取得了成功，但对于所输送的养分数量以及最佳积累条件知之甚少。在此，使用荧光二氧化硅纳米颗粒和共聚焦显微镜评估了各种渗透条件，包括纳米颗粒表面电荷和浓度、渗透时间、渗透液离子强度和pH值以及种子预浸处理。纳米颗粒表面带负电荷、较高的纳米颗粒浓度、较短的渗透时间以及钾盐会导致更大程度的纳米颗粒渗透。种皮元素分析补充了荧光数据，并突出了在离子盐渗透条件下有益常量营养素（包括钾和镁）的共同输送。总体而言，这些发现阐明了一种将纳米级养分生物强化到大豆种子中的新策略，该策略可扩展到其他农用化学品目标和作物品种，以促进可持续农业发展。
