Engineered Nanomaterials Suppress the Soft Rot Disease (<i>Rhizopus stolonifer</i>) and Slow Down the Loss of Nutrient in Sweet Potato
Lin-Jiang Pang,
Muhammed Adeel,
Noman Shakoor,
Ke-Rui Guo,
Dai-Fu Ma,
Muhammad Arslan Ahmad,
Guo-Quan Lu,
Mei-Hui Zhao,
Sheng-E Li,
Yu-Kui Rui
Affiliations
Lin-Jiang Pang
College of Food and Health, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Muhammed Adeel
Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Noman Shakoor
Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Ke-Rui Guo
Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Dai-Fu Ma
School of Life Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Muhammad Arslan Ahmad
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Bioresource and Eco-Environmental Science, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Guo-Quan Lu
College of Food and Health, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Mei-Hui Zhao
College of Food and Health, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Sheng-E Li
College of Food and Health, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Yu-Kui Rui
Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
About 45% of the world’s fruit and vegetables are wasted, resulting in postharvest losses and contributing to economic losses ranging from $10 billion to $100 billion worldwide. Soft rot disease caused by Rhizopus stolonifer leads to postharvest storage losses of sweet potatoes. Nanoscience stands as a new tool in our arsenal against these mounting challenges that will restrict efforts to achieve and maintain global food security. In this study, three nanomaterials (NMs) namely C60, CuO, and TiO2 were evaluated for their potential application in the restriction of Rhizopus soft rot disease in two cultivars of sweet potato (Y25, J26). CuO NM exhibited a better antifungal effect than C60 and TiO2 NMs. The contents of three important hormones, indolepropionic acid (IPA), gibberellic acid 3 (GA-3), and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the infected J26 sweet potato treated with 50 mg/L CuO NM were significantly higher than those of the control by 14.5%, 10.8%, and 24.1%. CuO and C60 NMs promoted antioxidants in both cultivars of sweet potato. Overall, CuO NM at 50 mg/L exhibited the best antifungal properties, followed by TiO2 NM and C60 NM, and these results were further confirmed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The use of CuO NMs as an antifungal agent in the prevention of Rhizopus stolonifer infections in sweet potatoes could greatly reduce postharvest storage and delivery losses.
