The Effects of Silicon Dioxide Nanoparticles and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on Waste Land soil Bacterial and Fungal Isolates

Objective: Different bacterial and fungal isolates were collected from the wasteland municipality site, Tambaram. The antimicrobial activity of two types of nanoparticles ZnO & SiO2 [Zinc oxide and Silicon dioxide] against several types of Gram-negative bacteria and fungi was investigated in this work.

Methods: P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, Penicillium oxalicum and Aspergillus fumigatus were isolated from 5 soil samples taken from three sites of Tambaram Municipality wasteland (Chennai). After collecting the samples, we used culturing and biochemical tests to identify the microbes and then used a chemical approach to make ZnO and SiO2 nanoparticles with altered structure and morphological features. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was used to assess the antibacterial activity of these nanoparticles against various microorganisms.

Results: The best inhibition zone was found in Pseudomonas sps and Bacillus sps growth at concentrations of 10 µg/ml and 5 µg /ml of nano-ZnO, respectively, whereas the lower inhibition zone was found in Penicillium oxalicum and Aspergillus fumigatus at a dosage of 2.5 µg /ml of the same nanoparticle. It was also discovered that no inhibitory zone existed in any of the bacteria and fungi at a concentration of 10 µg /ml nano-SiO2. We found that all of the bacteria and fungi we tested were completely inhibited at a concentration of 1.25 g/ml nano-ZnO (MIC), with no antibacterial activity below this concentration. When compared to data that showed that all tested bacteria were not completely inhibited even at a concentration of 0.625 g/ml of nano-SiO2.

Conclusion: In comparison to the two nanoparticles (ZnO and SiO2), nano-ZnO outperformed nano-SiO2 in inhibiting most bacteria and fungi at the quantities tested in wasteland soil.