Studying Effect of TiO2 Nanoparticles on Soil Fertility and Plant Physiology Using IoT-Enabled Controlled Growth Chamber

With the ever-increasing use of nanoparticles in many applications, the risk of entry of these particles into the natural food chain has also increased. As per recent reports, about 107 kilograms of TiO2 nanoparticles are consumed annually by several industries like cosmetics, toothpastes, paints, and paper mills. Therefore, these nanoparticles are entering the natural ecosystem not only through industrial waste but also from the wastewater of every individual household. Currently, the scientific community has mixed opinions about the phytotoxicity of TiO2 nanoparticles. There are many experiments in which the genotoxicity of TiO2 and its adverse effects on the DNA and other proteins are reported; in contrast, numerous recent articles report that nanoprimed plants with TiO2 may benefit in terms of crop yield. In this article, we present a systematic study of nanoprimed seeds with TiO2 nanoparticles in the growth media of an IoT-enabled plant growth chamber. The method includes continuous monitoring of the electrical resistance of the growth media using our recently developed sensor. A healthy plant exhibits a rhythmic pattern in terms of the electrical resistance of the growth media around its root; however, this rhythm is disrupted when the plant is stressed. The method is generic and detects both biotic and abiotic stress. In this article, a controlled study of the induced stress by adding different concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles (size < 100 nm) in agarose growth media in which Cicer arietinum seedlings were germinated is reported.