Biological and Phytochemical Responses of Trigonella foenum-graceum Plants to Silver Nanoparticles

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of applying different concentrations of AgNPs on plant yield, protein and phytochemical compound in Trigonella foenum-graecum. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out based on a completely randomized design (CRD) with six concentrations of AgNPs (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/L). The results showed that the highest biomass (2.14 +/- 0.02 g) and chlorophyll content (52.80 +/- 2.51 mu g center dot g(-1) FW) were obtained in 10 mg/L of AgNPs, while the highest protein content (3.3 +/- 0.12 mg center dot g(-1) FW) was obtained in 20 mg/L of AgNPs. The highest amount of trigonelline (TG) and nicotinic acid (NT) contents were obtained in 10 mg/L of AgNPs. Treatments with an AgNPs concentration higher than 10 mg L-1 led to reduced growth, biomass, chlorophyll, protein, TG and NA contents. AgNPs application caused considerable increase in seed yield and TG content. Therefore, the use of low concentration of AgNPs (10 mg/L) could be recommended to improve the T. foenum-graecum growth, biomass, protein content and phytochemical compound production.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of different concentrations of AgNPs on Trigonella foenum-graecum. The results showed that applying 10 mg/L of AgNPs resulted in the highest biomass and chlorophyll content, while applying 20 mg/L of AgNPs resulted in the highest protein content. High concentrations of AgNPs led to reduced growth and yield. Therefore, using a low concentration of AgNPs can improve the growth and yield of Trigonella foenum-graecum.