AsianScientist (Aug. 25, 2017) – In a study published in the journal ACS Omega, scientists from China describe a method to make a low-cost, biocompatible fertilizer with carbon quantum dots derived from rapeseed pollen.
As the world population continues to increase rapidly, agricultural experts puzzle over how farms will produce enough food to keep up with demand. One strategy involves boosting crop yields, and to obtain better returns on agriculture, there is a need for fertilizers that are effective, safe and environmentally friendly.
Carbon nanomaterials are commonly associated with complex devices because of their exceptional mechanical, thermal, optical and electrical properties. Surprisingly, these nanomaterials could also have potential agricultural applications—some studies have shown that they can promote plant growth. However, many carbon nanomaterials are expensive to produce and usually contain heavy metal contaminants introduced during their synthesis, making them unsafe for food production.
In this study, a team of researchers led by Professors Liu Yingliang and Lei Bingfu at Guangzhou University in China explored the use of carbon dots, a type of nanoparticle, in agriculture. They synthesized the carbon dots by breaking apart and heating rapeseed pollen. The high-yield process was relatively inexpensive, costing 3 cents per gram.
The researchers then tested the material as a fertilizer for growing lettuce. They discovered that at a concentration of 30 milligrams per liter of a nutrient solution, the carbon dots increased plant biomass by nearly 50 percent compared with plants that did not receive the carbon dots.
Additionally, because the carbon dots are fluorescent, the researchers could track the materials under ultraviolet light, and they observed that the carbon dots accumulated mainly in the leaves. Further analysis also revealed that the composition of vitamin C, soluble sugars and proteins in the lettuce were not altered by the carbon dots.
Hence, this research highlights an inexpensive and safe method to increase crop yields so that future demands for food can be met.
The article can be found at: Zheng et al. (2017) Bioimaging Application and Growth-Promoting Behavior of Carbon Dots from Pollen on Hydroponically Cultivated Rome Lettuce.
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Source: American Chemical Society; Photo: Pixabay.
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