Obtaining a nanosized silica-humic preparation and its initial approbation

Abstract: The recent decades have witnessed a significant development and implementation of nanotechnology, including in various branches of agriculture. There is an active search for ways to obtain preparations for plant growing with nanoparticles that can be more rapidly involved in the metabolic processes of plants. This article aims to obtain a nanosized silica-humic preparation and its approbation on potato plants. As a source of humic substances, a liquid humic preparation BoGum (developed by the All-Russian Research Institute of Reclaimed Lands) was used, as a source of silicon – sodium metasilicate. Ultrasonic dispersion method was used for achieving the nanoscale of the samples. A silicon source was introduced in an amount of 0.1% (of SiO2) into BoGum, followed by the application of ultrasonic action for 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes. The analysis of the obtained samples using a 90 Plus/MAS particle size analyzer has shown that with increasing dispersion time, the effective particle diameter changed insignificantly. At the same time, a redistribution of particles was noted: when the samples were exposed for 20 minutes, the number of smaller particles increased. After 5 minutes of treatment, the range of particle distribution was 115±13–830±23 nm, after 20 minutes of exposure, the particle diameter fell into two regions: 81±8–120±10 and 280±4–470±18 nm. Ultrasonic action contributed to the retention of the stable state of aggregation of the obtained preparation, larger microbiological activity and larger content of humic acid in comparison with the silica-humic preparation, obtained without the application of an ultrasound. The new nanosized silica-humic preparation has been tested on potato plants. Treatment of tubers before planting, followed by foliar spraying of vegetative plants, has contributed to an increase in potato yield by 18.7%. Changes were noted in the content of mono- and polysilicic acids in the soil, as well as the accumulation of silicon in the tops of potatoes when using silicahumic preparations by 0.96% of absolute dry mass on average.