Controlled Nitrogen Release by Hydroxyapatite Nanomaterials in Leaves Enhances Plant Growth and Nitrogen Uptake

Bhaskar Sharma; Hagay Kohay; Sandeep Sharma; Marina Youngblood; Jarad P. Cochran; Jason M. Unrine; Olga V. Tsyusko; Gregory V. Lowry; Juan Pablo Giraldo

doi:10.1021/acsnano.4c16362

Controlled Nitrogen Release by Hydroxyapatite Nanomaterials in Leaves Enhances Plant Growth and Nitrogen Uptake

Bhaskar Sharma, Hagay Kohay, Sandeep Sharma, Marina Youngblood, Jarad P. Cochran, Jason M. Unrine, Olga V. Tsyusko, Gregory V. Lowry, Juan Pablo Giraldo

Producción científica: Article › revisión exhaustiva

4 Citas (Scopus)

Resumen

Nitrogen fertilizer delivery inefficiencies limit crop productivity and contribute to environmental pollution. Herein, we developed Zn- and Fe-doped hydroxyapatite nanomaterials (ZnHAU, FeHAU) loaded with urea (∼26% N) through hydrogen bonding and metal-ligand interactions. The nanomaterials attach to the leaf epidermal cuticle and localize in the apoplast of leaf epidermal cells, triggering a slow N release at acidic conditions (pH 5.8) that promote wheat (Triticum aestivum) growth and increased N uptake compared to conventional urea fertilizers. ZnHAU and FeHAU exhibited prolonged N release compared to urea in model plant apoplast fluid pH in vitro (up to 2 days) and in leaf membranes in plants (up to 10 days) with a high N retention (32% to 53%) under simulated high rainfall events (50 mm). Foliar N delivery doses of up to 4% as ZnHAU and FeHAU did not induce toxicity in plant cells. The foliar-applied ZnHAU and FeHAU enhanced fresh and dry biomass by ∼214% and ∼161%, and N uptake by ∼108% compared to foliar-applied urea under low soil N conditions in greenhouse experiments. Controlled N release by leaf-attached nanomaterials improves N delivery and use efficiency in crop plants, creating nanofertilizers with reduced environmental impact.

Idioma original	English
Páginas (desde-hasta)	3906-3919
Número de páginas	14
Publicación	ACS Nano
Volumen	19
N.º	3
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c16362
Estado	Published - ene 28 2025

Nota bibliográfica

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 American Chemical Society.

Financiación

This work was supported by the NSF ECO CBET grant no. 2133568 to G.V.L., J.P.G., and O.T. We are grateful to Hanna Poffenbarger, Associate Professor of Soil Nutrient Management, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, and David A. Van Sanford, Professor, University of Kentucky, USA, for the wheat seed material (Pembroke 2021). This work was performed in part at the University of Kentucky Electron Microscopy Center, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NNCI- 2025075). Figure 1 was created in BioRender. Lab, G. (2025) https://BioRender.com/p12j381. This work was supported by the NSF ECO CBET grant no. 2133568 to G.V.L., J.P.G., and O.T. We are grateful to Hanna Poffenbarger, Associate Professor of Soil Nutrient Management, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, and David A. Van Sanford, Professor, University of Kentucky, USA, for the wheat seed material (Pembroke 2021). This work was performed in part at the University of Kentucky Electron Microscopy Center, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NNCI-2025075). was created in BioRender. Lab, G. (2025) https://BioRender.com/p12j381 .

Financiadores	Número del financiador
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky
U.S. Department of Energy Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project Oak Ridge National Laboratory Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment National Science Foundation National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center National Natural Science Foundation of China	2133568, NNCI-2025075

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Materials Science
General Engineering
General Physics and Astronomy

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abstract = "Nitrogen fertilizer delivery inefficiencies limit crop productivity and contribute to environmental pollution. Herein, we developed Zn- and Fe-doped hydroxyapatite nanomaterials (ZnHAU, FeHAU) loaded with urea (∼26\% N) through hydrogen bonding and metal-ligand interactions. The nanomaterials attach to the leaf epidermal cuticle and localize in the apoplast of leaf epidermal cells, triggering a slow N release at acidic conditions (pH 5.8) that promote wheat (Triticum aestivum) growth and increased N uptake compared to conventional urea fertilizers. ZnHAU and FeHAU exhibited prolonged N release compared to urea in model plant apoplast fluid pH in vitro (up to 2 days) and in leaf membranes in plants (up to 10 days) with a high N retention (32\% to 53\%) under simulated high rainfall events (50 mm). Foliar N delivery doses of up to 4\% as ZnHAU and FeHAU did not induce toxicity in plant cells. The foliar-applied ZnHAU and FeHAU enhanced fresh and dry biomass by ∼214\% and ∼161\%, and N uptake by ∼108\% compared to foliar-applied urea under low soil N conditions in greenhouse experiments. Controlled N release by leaf-attached nanomaterials improves N delivery and use efficiency in crop plants, creating nanofertilizers with reduced environmental impact.",

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AU - Sharma, Sandeep

AU - Youngblood, Marina

AU - Cochran, Jarad P.

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Controlled Nitrogen Release by Hydroxyapatite Nanomaterials in Leaves Enhances Plant Growth and Nitrogen Uptake

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

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