Effects of nanocrystalline powders (Fe, Co and Cu) on the germination, growth, crop yield and product quality of soybean (Vietnamese species DT-51)

Quoc Buu Ngo, Trong Hien Dao, Hoai Chau Nguyen, Xuan Tin Tran, Tuong Van Nguyen, Thuy Duong Khuu and Thi Ha Huynh

Abstract

Superdispersive iron, cobalt and copper nanocrystalline powders were synthesized in a water–ethanol medium by the reduction method using sodium borohydride as a reducing agent and carboxymethyl cellulose as a stabilizer (for Fe and Co nanoparticles). Transmission electron microscopy micrographs and x-ray diffraction analyses of the freshly prepared nanocrystalline powders indicated that they were in a zerovalent state with particle sizes ranging from 20 to 60 nm. The soybean seeds were treated with an extra low nanocrystalline dose (not more than 300 mg of each metal per hectare) and then sowed on an experimental landfill plot consisting of a farming area of 180 m². This pre-sowing treatment of soybean seeds, which does not exert any adverse effect on the soil environment, reliably changed the biological indices of the plant growth and development. In particular, in laboratory experiments, the germination rates of soybean seeds treated with zerovalent Cu, Co and Fe were 65, 80 and 80%, respectively, whereas 55% germination was observed in the control sample; in the field experiment, for all of the nanoscale metals studied, the chlorophyll index increased by 7–15% and the number of nodules by 20–49% compared to the control sample, and the soybean crop yield increased up to 16% in comparison with the control sample