Biosynthesis, Characterization and Antifungal Activity of Silver Nanoparticles by Aspergillus Niger Isolate
Author(s): Shrouaq Al-Zubaidi, Aisha Al-Ayafi, Hayam Abdelkader
A survey of fresh-market vegetables and fruits including orange (Citrus sinensis) lemon (Citrus lemon), tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum), grapes (Vitis vinifera), strawberries (Fragaria ananassa), cucurbita (Cucurbita pepo), cucumbers (Cucumis sativus), eggplants (Solanum melongena), Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum), and soft dates (Phoenix dactylifera Linn.) were conducted in Jeddah city to control the most common fungal infections by using biosynthesized Silver nanoparticles as antifungal agent. The results showed that Aspergillus Sp. had the highest occurrence in grapes, Onion, tomatoes and soft dates with a frequency of 70%, followed by Fusarium oxysporum with the frequency of occurrence of 31% in fruits and vegetables such as, strawberries, lemon, oranges, egg plants, cucumber and tomatoes while Penicillium digitatum had the least frequency of 10% each in orange, and lemon, respectively. The objective of this study was to biosynthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using A. niger fungal isolate and its evaluation as safe antifungal agent against plant pathogenic fungi. UV-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize the biosynthesized AgNPs. The UV-visible spectra showed a characteristic peak at 430 nm, which correlate to the surface plasmon absorbance (SPA) of AgNPs. Size distribution pattern observation showed particles with sizes ranged from 10-100 nm. Mycosynthesized AgNPs showed considerable antifungal activity against pathogenic plant fungi.