Mudassar Iqbal and Asma Noshad
University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nanomed Nanotechnol
The synthesis of nanomaterials has received more attention due to the increasing need to develop safe, cost-effective and environment friendly technologies for nano-material synthesis. Herein, we report the fabrication of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) via green synthetic approach using aqueous extract of mycological flora including Aspergillus Niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium, Acremonium, Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium, Rhizopus stolonifera and Trichoderma harzianum) isolated from different soil samples. Their aqueous extract was treated with different concentrations of silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution at various pH levels. Generally the reaction was carried out for 72 hours and a visible change in color of reaction mixture from clear to dark brown was considered a positive indication. The synthesis of AgNPs was confirmed by UV-Vis spectrum which showed distinct peak around 420 nm -430 nm regions. Scanning electron microscopic imaging confirmed the size and shape of AgNPs, size ranged from 18 nmâ?? 69 nm. We found that the concentration of silver salt plays vital role in controlling the size of nano particles while the aqueous extract from different fungal strains is responsible for the difference in shape of NPs. Each fungi is known to produce different metabolites that act as reducing as well as capping agents during the synthesis of AgNPs hence giving them different shapes. Furthermore, the synthesized AgNPs were tested for their antimicrobial potential against pathogenic bacterial strains including Xanthomonas, Clavibacter, Agrobacterium, E Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Baccilus and Klebsiella. The in vitro antibiotic activity was carried out using disk diffusion assay and was compared against standard known antibiotic as positive control and aqueous AgNO3 and mycelial extract as negative control. We found some of our synthesized AgNPs even more potent than known antibiotics. The results from our lab clearly open a new avenue for the green synthesis of nanoparticles using fungal extract and their importance against agricultural pathogens.
Email: mudassariqbal@aup.edu.pk