Carbon and fullerene nanomaterials in plant system

Both the functionalized and non functionalized carbon nanomaterials influence fruit and crop production in edible plants and vegetables. The fullerene, C-60 and carbon nanotubes have been shown to increase the water retaining capacity, biomass and fruit yield in plants up to similar to 118% which is a remarkable achievement of nanotechnology in recent years. The fullerene treated bitter melon seeds also increase the phytomedicine contents such as cucurbitacin-B (74%), lycopene (82%), charantin (20%) and insulin (91%). Since as little as 50 mu g mL(-1) of carbon nanotubes increase the tomato production by about 200%, they may be exploited to enhance the agriculture production in future. It has been observed that, in certain cases, non functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes are toxic to both plants and animals but the toxicity can be drastically reduced if they are functionalized.