Impact of Engineered Si Nanoparticles on Seed Germination, Vigour Index and Genotoxicity Assessment via DNA Damage of Root Tip Cells in Lens culinaris

Engineered nanoparticles are of great scientific interest due to their wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, agricultural, optical and electronic fields. The present study has been designed to study the effect of Si nanoparticle (SiNP) on plant growth parameters and to detect the possible genotoxicity induced by them. Seed germination results indicated that SiNP at lower concentration promotes seed germination, Vigour index and biomass; however, at higher concentrations they showed deviated results. To study toxicological end points microscopic examination of root tip cells were carried out. The result showed that exposure to the nanoparticle increase the number of chromosomal aberrations significantly. Dose-dependent decrease in Mitotic index (MI) in the treated populations was observed as compared to control. The result suggests potential of nanoparticle in causing genomic instability by impairing mitosis and altering DNA by inducing chromosomal anomalies. Lower concentration of Si NP can induce positive results on germination and biomass of lentils Si Nanoparticles can penetrate the tissue system through seed or foliar dressing and interfere with the cell division cycle, inducing nanotoxicity.