Spring durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf. L.) is an important staple crop throughout the world, and its productivity enhancement can use the advanced nanotechnologies. Nanoparticles have become an environmentally safe fertilizer for grain crops. The presented work aimed to determine the effects of pre-sowing seed treatment with iron nanoparticles (Fe NPs) on the growth of six durum wheat cultivars (Milyana, Orenburgskaya-21, Bourbon, Bezenchukskaya Zolotistaya, Tselinnitsa, and Luch-25), as well as, assessing the toxicity of Fe NPs. The toxicity detection of nanoparticles employed the bacterial luminescence test system of Escherichia coli strain K12 TG1. For bioluminescence on a bacterial test model and assessing the effect of Fe NPs on plants, the experiment had the concentration range below 8 × 10-4 mg/ml. For each durum wheat cultivar, four experimental options included the control (seeds without treatment) and wheat seeds’ treatment with four concentrations of Fe NPs (10-4%, 10-5%, 10-6%, and 10-7%). Afterward, the assessment of germination energy after five days and morphometric parameters of seedlings after seven days ensued.
Spring durum wheat (T. durum Desf. L.), nanoparticles, Fe, pre-sowing treatment, toxicity, cultivar specificity, growth traits
Spring durum wheat (T. durum Desf. L.) seed treatment with Fe NPs enhanced plants’ shoot and root length and stimulated the seedling biomass accumulation. However, these effects depended on the metal concentration in the polymer composition and the wheat genotype.