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Global warming threatens to completely change agriculture within decades. In Chile, some plantations are already beginning to feel the effects of rising temperatures, but in the laboratories of the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (Cedenna), in Santiago, there is a team of scientists that is using a method to preserve more of 30 native species of the country, such as maqui and boldoand Antarctica.
From these plants they extract plant molecules to create green nanoparticles with different properties, mainly the control of pests in crops. “It’s like they grow in an eternal spring. We do not depend on the environment, although initially we do depend on a plant because we take samples, like a branch, and they are multiplied through a system in vitro“, in addition to being subjected to other processes,” says the project leader Gustavo Zúñiga, academic at the University of Santiago (Usach) and researcher at Cedenna, the most relevant nanoparticle center in Chile and the only one with a multidisciplinary approach in Latin America. .
Grown in canning jars and under a rigidly controlled environment, the chemical composition of the plantations seems to overcome any climatological disturbance. Zúñiga, together with researcher Andrea Arenas, shows some test tubes, which contain an intensely purple liquid to explain that they are essential extracts for the synthesis of plant nanoparticles, undetectable to the naked eye due to their tiny size and capable of passing through any type of molecular barrier.
The promise, the thousand and one advantages
Unlike other nanoparticle production methods, the one developed at Cedenna is generated through the use of reagents without any impact on the environment because they are produced with plant extracts. The novelty and greatest potential of the project is that they are harmless, unlike common pesticides.
They have not yet been baptized with a name, since they are in the process of obtaining a patent for their commercialization. But the research center promises that its use as “nanopesticides” would be revolutionary because one of its many advantages is economic efficiency, given that nanoparticles are more active and require a smaller amount per hectare.
According to the researchers, there is already interest within the local industry for this innovation, because it would not only be a scientific advance, but a sustainable solution for agriculture and health.
Used in excess, fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals are a source of environmental pollution. If you only make one zoom About pesticides and their effects, more than 1,000 varieties are used in the world to prevent food from being destroyed or damaged by pests. However, each of these substances contain different properties and toxicological effects, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Zúñiga, who for years has immersed himself in the study of plant chemistry and biology, is convinced that the future must be as green as possible if the climate crisis is to be mitigated.
He says this because, for almost three decades, he has seen the effects of increasing temperatures in Antarctica, where he has gone every year to evaluate plant species and their adaptation. After confirming the thaw and thus leaving it recorded in the latest records of it, the researcher has intensified the search for a solution within nature itself.
Potentials
The technology developed at Cedenna promises a considerable reduction in costs and environmental impact associated with conventional fungicides that are commonly used to eliminate or prevent the growth of fungi and molds that are harmful to plants. Furthermore, by dissolving in larger volumes of water, the amount needed to treat the same crop areas also decreases.
Zúñiga points out that the development of green nanoparticles has multiple potentials. In addition to being useful for agriculture, they confer additional properties that could even improve the fight against multi-resistant bacteria in hospital environments. “They could be used to clean surgical materials, counters or hospital facilities to reduce or control bacteria, given that small quantities are used and the results we have show that they are quite efficient in controlling, for example, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcusamong others,” he details.
They also do not rule out that they can be used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, particularly in the manufacture of dermatological products; because their promoters say that green nanoparticles are born to stay as a solution. “We look in the plants we grow in vitro some molecules with interesting biological properties, and we do it tirelessly,” concludes the researcher.
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