Objective. Study the biological activity of nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) against pathogenic viruses and fungi, pathogens of farm animals and plants, investigate their bactericidal and growthregulating properties. Methods. Virological, microbiological and statistical. Virucidal activity of NiNPs was evaluated by the difference of virus titres in the control and under the action of NPs, bactericidal — by the difference of bacterial titres, fungicidal and fungistatic — by the difference of diameters of fungal colonies, growth-regulating — by the difference in leaf blade length and roots ofgerms of winter wheat. The antiviral activity of NPs was determined in the culture of versenalisedembryonic porcine kidney cells. Bactericidal activity was investigated in a liquid digest medium.Fungistatic activity was determined on wort agar. Wheat germs were germinated in Petri dishesaccording to generally accepted methods. The viral titre was calculated by Reed-Muench method.The bacterial titre was determined by seeding the suspensions on agar medium. Statistical processing was performed in Microsoft Office Excel and statsoft STATISTICA 12, using Student's t-test,post-hoc tests: Fisher’s least significant difference test and Duncan’s new multiple range test.Results. It was found that Ni NPs show high virucidal activity against Teschovirus A strainDniprovskyi-34, reducing the virus titre by 2.46 lg TCD50/cm3, and have a chemotherapeutic indexof 4. Ni NPs have low fungistatic activity against Acremonium cucurbitacearum 502, reducing theaverage diameter of colonies by 6.58 to 20.22 %. Regarding Acremonium strictum 048 and Fusarium sp. 072, Ni NPs have a slight stimulating activity, increasing the average diameter of the colonies by 10.18 to 12.44 % and 14.84 to 22.18 %, respectively. Under the action of Ni NPs, the titre ofBacillus subtilis ІМВ В-7023 and Pseudomonas chlororaphis subsp. aureofaciens UKM B-306(2687) upon the cultivation of bacteria in meat-peptone broth significantly (by 80.96 to 82.77 %and 15.67 to 36.39 %, respectively) increases. Ni NPs exhibits growth-promoting properties onwheat germs, increasing the average length of leaf blades and roots by 41.79 and 36.76 %, respectively. Conclusion. According to the study findings, Ni NPs cannot be recommended for the creation of antifungal preparations. Further research is needed to develop Ni NP-based antiviral preparations, virucidal and disinfecting agents, growth- regulating products for cultivated plants, and toincrease the titre of beneficial soil bacteria.

The aim of the research was to study the influence of nanoparticles (NPs) of metals and nonmetals of multicomponent trace element preparation «Avatar-2 protection» and microbial preparation «Azogran» on infectious diseases of potato in vivo. Affection of potato cultivar Suvenir Chernihivskyi by diseases was evaluated in two small plot studies on soddy podzolic soil and alkaline chernozem. Symptoms of common scab and dry rot in tubers were identified visually and then the severity and the rate of the diseases were calculated. The presence of viruses in plants was examined by agglutination tests and the rates of the viral infections were calculated. The results of the study indicate that on the soddy podzolic soil the composition of Se+I NPs significantly decrease disease severity of both common scab and dry rot by 20.00 and 17.50% respectively, whereas «Avatar-2 protection» preparation, «Azogran» preparation and the combination of «Azogran» preparation with the composition of Se+I NPs significantly decreased only the severity of dry rot by 22.50%. The combination of «Azogran» preparation with the composition of Se+I NPs significantly decreased the incidence and the disease severity of common scab, the incidence and the disease severity of dry rot on the alkaline chernozem by 40.00; 30.00; 25.00 and 30.00% respectively; whereas «Avatar-2 protection» preparation significantly decreased the incidence of viral diseases by 33.33–66.67% on both soils. The effect of the composition of Se+I NPs, «Avatar-2 protection» preparation and «Azogran» preparation is promising for further investigation. Particularly, an abundance of different groups of microorganisms in potato’s rhizosphere under the treatment with studied substances needs to be evaluated in order to understand the mechanisms diseases’ incidence and severity decrease. The effect of the studied NPs and preparations on other diseases of potato and diseases of other agricultural crops needs to be studied. The results of these studies can be useful for the development of the control methods for various infectious diseases of agricultural crops.

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According to the results of the study, the threshold limit values (TLVs) of CeO 2 , and Ce nanoparticles (NPs) for the culture of swine kidney embryonic cell line (SKECL) have been estimated. The TLVs are 0.1 μg/cm 3 for Ce NPs, and 1 μg/cm 3 for CeO 2 NPs. All NPs were non-toxic for white mice at concentration of 2000 mg/kg, which opens up a perspective for the further use of these NPs in the development of antiviral substances. CeO 2 , and Ce NPs have decreased the titer of Teschovirus by 1.46-2 lg 10 TCD 50 / cm 3 at TLVs at all stages of virus reproduction. Sensitivity of the strain Dniprovskyi-34 of species Teschovirus A, serotype Porcine teschovirus 1 (PTV-1), to solvents, proteolytic enzyme trypsin under the presence of CeO 2 , and Ce NPs has been studied. Under the presence of solvents, and trypsin, NPs decreased the infectious titer of the virus slightly by only 0.23 lg 10 TCD 50 /cm 3 . CeO 2 , and Ce NPs have not shown antiviral activity under heating to 50 °C, either with the addition of 1 M solution of MgCl 2 or without it, and did not cause significant decrease of infectious activity of the virus under pH values 2.0, 7.2, and 11.0 within 10 minutes exposition. Ability of CeO 2 , and Ce NPs to interact with viral particles, change their morphology, which can affect infective activity of the virus significantly, has been shown. Addition of CeO 2 , and Ce NPs to the antigen has caused the decrease of the titer of virus-neutralizing antibodies, though it remained high. The results of the studies can be used in development of disinfectants, and antiviral drugs.

Improvement of conventional methods of potato growing is an important task of modern agriculture. Nowadays nanoparticles (NPs) gain increasing attention of scientists as promising tools for increasing productivity of crop cultures. NPs of such elements as Fe, Zn, B, Si, Cu, Co, Se and Ag can significantly increase potato productivity. Ag NPs show synergic effect with some microbial preparations. However, the influence of such elements as Zn and Se on the productivity of potato and joint application of NPs with microbial preparations for pre-sowing treatment are not studied sufficiently. The influence of Ti and I NPs on potato productivity, the influence of NPs on Ukrainian potato cultivars, the influence of NPs on the potato productivity in Polesia region conditions are not studied yet. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of pre-sowing treatment of seed potatoes with Zn nanoparticles (NPs), Ti NPs, composition of Se + I NPs, composition of Zn + Ti + Se + I NPs NPs, “Avatar-2 protection” multicomponent trace element preparation, “Azogran” microbial preparation “Azogran” and the combination of “Azogran” preparation with the composition of Se + I NPs on the productivity of potato cultivar Suvenir chernihivskyi in the Polesia region conditions. Two small plot studies were planted for three years in order to conduct the study. Each small plot study had been performed on different soil types: soddy podzolic soil and alkaline chernozem. Studies were situated on the lands of the Institute of Agricultural Microbiology and Agro-industrial Production of National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. It has been found that the composition of Se + I NPs, “Azogran” microbial preparation and the combination “Azogran” preparation with the composition of Se + I NPs had the most prominent influence on the potato productivity, increasing it on soddy podzolic soil by 33.13; 38.34 and 45.35 % respectively and on alkaline chernozem by 10.97; 17.98 and 37.27 % respectively. The composition of Se + I NPs and “Azogran” preparation are shown to develop synergic effect. The results of the study suggest high efficiency of the use of nanoparticles in potato growing.