Amelioration of Ageing Associated Alterations and Oxidative Inequity in Seeds of Cicer arietinum by Silver Nanoparticles

Metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) have recently been accomplished a great attention worldwide, in various sectors including agriculture due to their beneficial impacts in plant growth, development and stress tolerance. However, it shows dose-dependent response and may vary with type of metal and synthesis procedure followed. Among many, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are most frequently used NP in agricultural sector. In the present study, AgNPs were synthesized following both green (gAgNP) and chemical (cAgNP) synthesis processes, characterized by standard methods and were applied to artificially agedCicer arietinumseeds. Initial characterization of synthesized NPs was done by UV-Visible spectroscopy, and concentrations were calculated as 2.7 nmol for gAgNP, while, 5.8 nmol for cAgNP. Furthermore, the presence of different functional groups in synthesized AgNPs was evaluated by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (1000 and 4000 cm(-1)). However, the particle size of synthesized AgNPs was estimated by dynamic light scattering/ zetasizer (90-120 nm) and transmission electron microscopy (15-60 nm). Synthesized NPs were then assessed for their ameliorative efficiencies against accelerated ageing-induced injuries inCicer arietinumseeds.Experimental results revealed various physiological and biochemical alterations due to accelerated ageing in seeds ofCicer arietinumincluding the over accumulation of reactive oxygen species and consequent decline in the expressions/ activities of key defensive genes. However, exogenous application of AgNPs provided tolerance against ageing-induced damages by compensating the cellular redox homeostasis via up-regulating the levels/ gene expression of antioxidants inCicer arietinum.