Biosafety Assessment of a Selenium-Containing Nanocomposite Based on a Polysaccharide Matrix of Starch

Abstract

The results of the first study of the biological effect of a starch–Se⁰NP (nanoparticle) nanocomposite on healthy and Cms-infected (Clavibacter michiganensis sepedonicus) potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) are presented. It is found that the addition of an aqueous solution of starch-stabilized Se⁰ nanoparticles with an average size of 22 nm to the plant medium is accompanied by the absence of a pronounced deviation in the values of the quantitative content of intermediate and final products of the process of lipid peroxidation (diene conjugates and malondialdehyde) in leaves from physiologically normal in the control and maintenance of the physiological ratio of chlorophyll a/b at a level of 1 : 3, even under conditions of its preliminary disturbance, together with a slight (by 30%) increase in the content of total chlorophyll (as in the case of infected plants). The results obtained indicate the absence of any negative effect of the starch–Se⁰NP nanocomposite on the antioxidant system and chlorophyll reserve in the plant organism, which confirms the safety of the resulting nanocomposite for potato plants.