EFFECT OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES ON THE VIABILITY OF MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITA AND PHOTOSYNTHETIC INDICES OF NEMATODE-INFECTED TOMATO PLANTS

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have unique biological properties and can affect various aspects of vital activity and metabolic processes in plants and animals, but silver ions are quite toxic to organisms. Due to the enormous potential for targeted action on plants and pathogens that affect them, the use of NPs can become a potential strategy to control phytopathogens including nematodes. The paper presents data of a study on the effect of Ag NPs obtained by laser ablation on root-knot nematode larvae and infected tomato plants. Ag NPs exhibited a nematocidal effect at a concentration of 5 mg/mL but had only a slight nematostatic effect at a tenfold dilution. It was shown that low NP concentrations (0.5–0.125 mg/L) did not inhibit the development of tomato plants and stimulated seed germination. The studied Ag NPs had an inducing effect on the tomato resistance to the phytonematodes as indicated by a decrease in root infection, as well as an improvement in the physiological state of plants, an indicator of which is an increase in the pool of photosynthetic pigments we studied when using a concentration of Ag NPs of 0.25 mg/L as compared to the infected control.