Long-Lasting Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized with Tagetes erecta and Their Antibacterial Activity against Erwinia amylovora, a Serious Rosaceous Pathogen

Johana Zarate-Escobedo; Hilda Araceli Zavaleta-Mancera; Ramón Marcos Soto-Hernández; Paulino Pérez-Rodríguez; Alfredo Rafael Vilchis-Nestor; Hilda Victoria Silva-Rojas; Libia Iris Trejo-Téllez

doi:10.3390/plants13070981

Long-Lasting Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized with Tagetes erecta and Their Antibacterial Activity against Erwinia amylovora, a Serious Rosaceous Pathogen

Plants (Basel). 2024 Mar 29;13(7):981. doi: 10.3390/plants13070981.

Authors

Johana Zarate-Escobedo¹, Hilda Araceli Zavaleta-Mancera², Ramón Marcos Soto-Hernández², Paulino Pérez-Rodríguez³, Alfredo Rafael Vilchis-Nestor⁴, Hilda Victoria Silva-Rojas⁵, Libia Iris Trejo-Téllez⁶

Affiliations

¹ Programa de Fisiología Vegetal, Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas Campus Montecillo, Montecillo, Texcoco 56264, Estado de México, Mexico.
² Programa de Botánica, Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas Campus Montecillo, Montecillo, Texcoco 56264, Estado de México, Mexico.
³ Programa de Estadística, Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas Campus Montecillo, Montecillo, Texcoco 56264, Estado de México, Mexico.
⁴ Centro Conjunto de Investigación en Química Sustentable, UAEM-UNAM, Toluca 50200, Estado de México, Mexico.
⁵ Programa de Semillas, Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas Campus Montecillo, Montecillo, Texcoco 56264, Estado de México, Mexico.
⁶ Laboratorio de Nutrición Vegetal, Programa de Edafología, Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas Campus Montecillo, Montecillo, Texcoco 56264, Estado de México, Mexico.

Abstract

A rapid, eco-friendly, and simple method for the synthesis of long-lasting (2 years) silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is reported using aqueous leaf and petal extracts of Tagetes erecta L. The particles were characterized using UV-Visible spectrophotometry and the analytical and crystallographic techniques of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The longevity of the AgNPs was studied using UV-Vis and high-resolution TEM. The antibacterial activity of the particles against Erwinia amylovora was evaluated using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. The results were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05). Both the leaf and petal extracts produced AgNPs, but the leaf extract (1 mL) was long-lasting and quasi-spherical (17.64 ± 8.87 nm), with an absorbance of UV-Vis λ_max 433 and a crystalline structure (fcc, 111). Phenols, flavonoids, tannins, and terpenoids which are associated with -OH, C=O, and C=C were identified in the extracts and could act as reducing and stabilizing agents. The best antibacterial activity was obtained with a nanoparticle concentration of 50 mg AgNPs L^-1. The main contribution of the present research is to present a sustainable method for producing nanoparticles which are stable for 2 years and with antibacterial activity against E. amylovora, one of most threatening pathogens to pear and apple productions.

Keywords: Erwinia amylovora; Tagetes erecta; antibacterial activity; green synthesis; long-lasting AgNPs; surface plasmon resonance.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding but the scholarship to the first author was granted by the “Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT) of Mexico”.