Frontiers in Plant Science (Dec 2023)

Remediation of wastewater by biosynthesized manganese oxide nanoparticles and its effects on development of wheat seedlings

  • Aneeza Ishfaq,
  • Muhammad Shahid,
  • Muhammad Nawaz,
  • Danish Ibrar,
  • Sabir Hussain,
  • Tanvir Shahzad,
  • Faisal Mahmood,
  • Afroz Rais,
  • Safia Gul,
  • Abdel-Rhman Z. Gaafar,
  • Mohamed S. Hodhod,
  • Shahbaz Khan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1263813
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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IntroductionNanoparticles play a vital role in environmental remediation on a global scale. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand to utilize nanoparticles in wastewater treatment due to their remarkable physiochemical properties.MethodsIn the current study, manganese oxide nanoparticles (MnO-NPs) were synthesized from the Bacillus flexus strain and characterized by UV/Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.ResultsThe objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of biosynthesized MnO-NPs to treat wastewater. Results showed the photocatalytic degradation and adsorption potential of MnO-NPs for chemical oxygen demand, sulfate, and phosphate were 79%, 64%, and 64.5%, respectively, depicting the potential of MnO-NPs to effectively reduce pollutants in wastewater. The treated wastewater was further utilized for the cultivation of wheat seedlings through a pot experiment. It was observed that the application of treated wastewater showed a significant increase in growth, physiological, and antioxidant attributes. However, the application of treated wastewater led to a significant decrease in oxidative stress by 40%.DiscussionIt can be concluded that the application of MnO-NPs is a promising choice to treat wastewater as it has the potential to enhance the growth, physiological, and antioxidant activities of wheat seedlings.

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