FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, cilt.27, sa.1, ss.436-445, 2018 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, early phytotoxic and genotoxic effects of chemically synthesized nano-TiO2 (anatase) were investigated in seedlings of maize (Zea mays cv. Hido). Control (Hoagland) and NaCl (300 mM) groups were administered with nano-TiO2 (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%). Seed germination and seedling growth parameters of maize cultivar were markedly inhibited by salt stress. Nano-TiO2, without depending on concentration, was found to be ineffective on germination percentage in all administrations. On the contrary, nano-TiO2 caused significant increases in root-stem length and fresh-dry weights especially in NaCl+nano-TiO2 administrations. In salt administered samples, 0.3% nano-TiO2 increased root length 1.4 fold, stem length 4.8 fold, and fresh weight 1.2 fold. Genotoxic properties of nano-TiO2 in seedlings of maize were evaluated by using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR). In RAPD analysis, 20 RAPD primers were found to produce unique polymorphic band profiles at different concentrations of nano-TiO2 maize seedlings. Genomic template stability (GTS), a qualitative measurement of changes in RAPD patterns of genomic DNA, decreased depending on increasing nano-TiO2, NaCl, and NaCl+nano-TiO2 concentrations. Therefore, it could be concluded that nano-TiO2 of appropriate dose can be used to ameliorate negative effects of salt stress by increasing growth potential of maize.