Advance In 'Nano-Agriculture:' Tiny Stuff Has Huge Effect On
Plant Growth Oct. 22, 2009 — With potential adverse health and
environmental effects often in the news about nanotechnology,
scientists in Arkansas are reporting that carbon nanotubes
(CNTs) could have beneficial effects in agriculture. Their
study, scheduled for the October issue of ACS Nano, found that
tomato seeds exposed to CNTs germinated faster and grew into
larger, heavier seedlings than other seeds. That growth-
enhancing effect could be a boon for biomass production for
plant-based biofuels and other agricultural products, they
suggest. Mariya Khodakovskaya, Alexandru Biris, and colleagues
note that considerable scientific research is underway to use
nanoparticles -- wisps 1/50,000th the width of a human hair --
in agriculture. The goals of "nano-agriculture" include
improving the productivity of plants for food, fuel, and other
uses. The scientists report the first evidence that CNTs
penetrate the hard outer coating of seeds, and have benef