Effect of Using Two Different Types of Carbon Nanotubes for Blackberry (Rubus adenotrichos) in Vitro Plant Rooting, Growth and Histology

Abstract

Nanoparticles are able to interact with biomolecules, creating functional nanosystems for transportation within in vivo cells, and leading to the study of their potential applications in the field of plant biotechnology. The refore, the aim of this research was to determine the growth and rooting effect of functionalized (SWCNTs-COOH) and non-functionalized nanoparticles with iron residue inner particles (SWCNTs-Fe) in blackberry ( Rubus adenotrichos ) in vitro plants. Two types of SWCNTs were used, both of them characterized in a solid sample through Raman spectroscopy ( λ = 532 nm) showing differences in the G band between SWCNT + Fe and SWCNT + COOH. The in vitro plants (approximately 15 mm len gth) were inoculated in a rooting medium. Six treatments were established: 4, 8, 12 μg/ml for each type of SWCNTs and a control without nanotubes. The assessed variables consisted of the average number of days for root emergence, average number of roots per plant, average root length per plant and the average stem length. This study determined that, in general, the SWCNTs-COOH promoted the growth of the in vitro plants under this assay, when compared to the SWCNTs-Fe trials. The lowest SWCNTs-COOH dose evidenced the best results for the assessed variables. Additionally, the histological analysis also evidenced that the plants treated with SWCNTs-COOH nanotubes (4 μg/ml) increased their cellular metabolism when compared to the control group.