Preparation of Salicylic Acid-Functionalized Nanopesticides and Their Applications in Enhancing Salt Stress Resistance

Abstract

Soil salinization is one of the global ecological and environmental problems that are tremendously threatening to the sustainable development of agriculture and food supply. In this work, a facile strategy was proposed to enhance the salt stress resistance of plants by preparing salicylic acid (SA)-functionalized mesoporous silica nanocarriers loaded with emamectin benzoate (EB). The obtained nanopesticides demonstrated a particle size of less than 300 nm. As an endogenous plant hormone, the grafting of SA in this nanopesticide system improved the uptake and translocation of pesticides in cucumber plants by 145.06%, and the applications of such nanopesticides enhanced the salt stress resistance of plants. This phenomenon was accounted for by the SA-functionalized nanopesticides increasing the superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities (640 and 175%, respectively) and reducing the malondialdehyde content (54.10%), correspondingly alleviating the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and cell damage in plants. The above results were also confirmed by Evans blue staining and NBT staining experiments on cucumber leaves. In addition, these nanopesticides exhibited high insecticidal toxicity, and they also demonstrated biosafety toward nontarget organisms due to their sustained release property. Therefore, this work developed a biosafe SA-functionalized nanopesticide system, and these newly developed nanopesticides have potential in the agricultural field for enhancing salt stress resistance of plants.

Foliar application of glycine‐functionalized nanopesticides for effective prevention and control of root‐knot nematodes via a targeted delivery strategy

“…As an efficacious surfactant, Silwet L-77 was reported to solubilize cuticular waxes and facilitate the uptake of nanoparticles into leaf mesophyll. 46 It was found in Fig. 5(f) that the EB contents in EB@MSN and EB@MSN-KH560-Gly systems with Silwet L-77 added were 129.31% and 134.54% respectively than those without adding Silwet L-77.…”