Exposure–Response of Wheat Cultivars to TiO₂ Nanoparticles in Contrasted Soils

ABSTRACT

Unprecedent usage of nanoparticles (NPs) over very large scale has raised concerns about their release into agro-environments. The effects of these emerging pollutants on staple food crops and contrasted soils are not very well documented. The main aim of present work was to investigate the exposure–response of 10 wheat cultivars to titanium dioxide (TiO₂) NPs (0–1000 mg kg⁻¹) in terms of early growth parameters followed by evaluation of the selected cultivar for complete growth cycle cultivated on contrasted soils in terms of various physicochemical characteristics. Among all the 10 tested wheat cultivars, only Galaxy cultivar sustained to the whole TiO₂ NPs exposure range. TiO₂ NPs exposure at 1000 mg kg⁻¹ adversely affected the early growth response parameters in MH, Ujala, Uqab, Shafaq and FSD wheat cultivars which clearly indicated the toxic effects induced by NPs. Pot studies were performed using Galaxy cultivar cultivated in different textured soils (loam and sandy loam). At the highest tested concentration of TiO₂ NPs, plant growth, biomass and phosphorus (P) concentration along with other tested parameters were not improved in both types of soils compared to their respective control groups. These results suggested the controlled use of NPs to avoid the NPs contamination in soil–plant ecosystems in the longer run.

KEYWORDS:

• Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
• early growth parameters
• contrasted soils
• TiO₂ NPs
• nanotoxicity

Conflicts of interest

Authors have no conflict of interest to declare for the work done.

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Funding

This research work was supported by The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan under Project No. 20-3060/NRPU/R&D/HEC/13 and by the Chung-Ang University Research Scholarship Grants of Republic of Korea in 2018.