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ABSTRACT
Nanoparticles (NPs) are substances that range from 1 to 100 nm in size. They have been applied in various fields, including material science and biotechnology, in recent years. Thus, the synthesis of nanoparticles can be considered a dynamic area of research and application. This study was aimed at investigating the effects of synthesis, incubation period and concentration of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on antimicrobial activity. Bacterial and fungal phytopathogens were isolated from a diseased tomato plant and characterized using phenotypic, biochemical, and molecular methods. The process of synthesizing ZnONPs involved using zinc oxide precursor solution and Moringa oleifera leaf extract. The ZnONPs were synthesized by exploring four different procedures involving stirring, heating, addition of NaOH, and concentration. Also, various incubation periods after nanoparticle synthesis were investigated. The biologically synthesized ZnONPs were characterized using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The antimicrobial activity of all the ZnONPs were tested against the isolated test pathogens. Pseudomonas flourence and Aspergillus niger were the bacterial and fungal isolates, respectively from tomato. The spectrophotometric analysis showed a peak between 330 and 350 nm, indicating ZONP synthesis. The best method of NP synthesis that resulted in the highest antimicrobial activity against the test pathogens was stirring the precursor solution and zinc oxide nanoparticles with heat. An incubation period between 24 and 48 hours resulted in ZONPs that were most effective for antimicrobial activity. The concentration of ZONPs did not impact their antimicrobial effectiveness. The findings of this study underscore the efficacy of heat-based synthesis for NPs and highlight the potent antimicrobial properties of biosynthesized ZnONPs against the test phytopathogens, thereby suggesting their potential role as antimicrobial agent for controlling microbial infection.
