Humic Acid-Coated Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Confer Resistance to Acremonium Wilt Disease and Improve Physiological and Morphological Attributes of Grain Sorghum

Sherif Mohamed El-Ganainy; Amal M El-Bakery; Heba M Hafez; Ahmed Mahmoud Ismail; Ali Zein El-Abdeen; Abed Abd Elgalel Ata; Omar A Y Abd Elraheem; Yousef M Y El Kady; Ahlam F Hamouda; Hossam S El-Beltagi; Wael F Shehata; Tarek A Shalaby; Ahmed Osman Abbas; Mustafa Ibrahim Almaghsla; Muhammad N Sattar; Zafar Iqbal

doi:10.3390/polym14153099

Humic Acid-Coated Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles Confer Resistance to Acremonium Wilt Disease and Improve Physiological and Morphological Attributes of Grain Sorghum

Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jul 30;14(15):3099. doi: 10.3390/polym14153099.

Authors

Sherif Mohamed El-Ganainy^{1

2}, Amal M El-Bakery³, Heba M Hafez⁴, Ahmed Mahmoud Ismail², Ali Zein El-Abdeen³, Abed Abd Elgalel Ata³, Omar A Y Abd Elraheem⁴, Yousef M Y El Kady⁴, Ahlam F Hamouda⁵, Hossam S El-Beltagi^{6

7}, Wael F Shehata⁶, Tarek A Shalaby¹, Ahmed Osman Abbas⁸, Mustafa Ibrahim Almaghsla¹, Muhammad N Sattar⁹, Zafar Iqbal⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Arid Land Agriculture, College of Agriculture & Food Sciences, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 420, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
² Vegetable Diseases Research Department, Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza 12619, Egypt.
³ Maize and Sugar Crops Diseases Research Department, Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza 12619, Egypt.
⁴ Department, of Sorghum Research, Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza 12619, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Benha 13736, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Gamma St, Giza 12613, Egypt.
⁸ Department of Animal and Fish Production, College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 420, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Central laboratories, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 420, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Acremonium wilt disease affects grain quality and reduces sorghum yield around the globe. The present study aimed to assess the efficacy of humic acid (HA)-coated Fe₃O₄ (Fe₃O₄/HA) nanoparticles (NPs) in controlling acremonium wilt disease and improving sorghum growth and yields. During the season 2019, twenty-one sorghum genotypes were screened to assess their response to Acremonium striticum via artificial infection under field conditions and each genotype was assigned to one of six groups, ranging from highly susceptible to highly resistant. Subsequently, over the two successive seasons 2020 and 2021, three different concentrations of 10, 40 and 80 mg L^-1 of Fe₃O₄/HA NPs were tested against A. striticum. The concentrations of 40 and 80 mg L^-1 were found to be highly effective in controlling acremonium wilt disease on different sorghum genotypes: LG1 (highly susceptible), Giza-3 (susceptible), and Local 119 (resistant) genotypes. After harvest, the physiological (growth and yield) and biochemical (peroxidase, catalase, and gibberellic acid) attributes of sorghum plants were determined, and the results demonstrated that concentrations of 40 and 80 mg L^-1 increased peroxidase and catalase activities in healthy (uninoculated) sorghum genotypes compared to inoculated sorghum genotypes. Additionally, the toxicity of Fe₃O₄/HA NPs on male albino rats was investigated via hematological (CBC), chemical (ALT and AST) and histopathological analyses. The concentration 80 mg L^-1 of Fe₃O₄/HA NPs caused a marked increase in ALT and creatinine level after 51 days of feeding. Severe pathological alterations were also observed in liver and kidney tissues of rats administered with grain sorghums treated with 80 mg L^-1. In comparison with the untreated control plants, a concentration of 40 mg L^-1 significantly increased the growth, yield and gibberellic acid levels (p ≤ 0.05) and was found to be safe in male albino rats. Conclusively, a concentration of 40 mg L^-1 of Fe₃O₄/HA NPs showed promising results in curtailing A. striticum infections in sorghum, indicating its great potential to substitute harmful fertilizers and fungicides as a smart agriculture strategy.

Keywords: Acremonium striticum; acremonium wilt; grain sorghum; humic acid; iron oxide nanoparticles; toxicity.

Grants and funding

GRANT773/King Faisal University