INFLUENCE OF SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION OF ANTIBIOTICS AND NANOPARTICLES ON WHEAT GROWTH

Abstract

Antibiotics are now considered as emerging environmental pollutants due to their persistent nature and continuous introduction into water and soil. Unfortunately, in countries like Pakistan, this untreated water is used for irrigation of crops and these antibiotics adsorbed into soil and are taken up by plants. The main objective of present study was to assess the potential of selected nanoparticles for degradation of antibiotics and subsequent improvement in crop productivity and quality in terms of nutritional composition. In screening study, three different nanoparticles (TiO2, ZnO and Fe2O3) with concentration varying from 40-60 mg L-1 for the time period of one to nine days under the visible lamp of 50W were used to test their efficiency to degrade commonly used antibiotics namely Amoxicillin (Amx) and Levofloxacin (Lev) from aqueous medium having 5 mg L-1 concentration of each antibiotic. TiO2 nanoparticles at 50 mg L-1 were found to be the most effective nanoparticles for the removal of both antibiotics with maximum percent degradation of 65% and 56% for Amx and Lev respectively on 7th day. In order to evaluate the growth response of wheat towards combined effect of nanoparticles and antibiotics, a pot experiment was carried out. Four treatments including level of Amx (5 mg L-1), Lev (5 mg L-1), TiO2 (50 mg L-1), simultaneous application of TiO2 and Amx (TiO2:50 mg L-1, Amx:5 mg L-1) and simultaneous application of TiO2 and Lev (TiO2:50 mg L-1, Lev:5 mg L-1) were applied with a control treatment having only NPK. Individual application of TiO2 nanoparticles significantly increased wheat growth and nutrients. Total percentage of carbohydrates and proteins in grains were increased up to 39% in comparison to control. However, combined effect of TiO2 with both antibiotics decreased the total iron, carbohydrates and proteins in grains up to 8% with respect to the control but showed significantly positive results as compared to individual application of antibiotics. Therefore, nanoparticles can serve as a better option for improving crop quality by degrading the antibiotics already present in water and soil.