Preparation of nano-fertilizer blend from banana peels

• Main Authors: H S Hussein, H H Shaarawy, Nabila H Hussien, S I Hawash
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2019-02-01
• Series: Bulletin of the National Research Centre
• Subjects: Nano-fertilizer; Banana peel extract; Germination; Tomato; Fenugreek crop
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42269-019-0058-1

Abstract Background Banana contains important nutrients, which could be recycled into useful materials to be reused in different purposes. Extraction of mixed nano bio stimulant fertilizer from banana peels is the main purpose of this investigation. Results Nano-fertilizer extract was subjected to physical and chemical analyses for characterization. The fertilizer constituent size ranged from 19 to 55 nm, and the histogram illustrates that the major nanoparticles were 40 nm with an average percentage of 36% while 55-nm particles were the minor size with an average percentage of 6%. The synthesized nanofertilizers contained chelated potassium, chelated iron, tryptophan, urea, amino acids, protein, and citric acid. Conclusions Nano-fertilizer extracted from banana peels was applied in agriculture of two crops, tomato and fenugreek. The data revealed that germination percentage increased with increasing dose of banana peel extract for both crops. For tomato crop, the germination percentage was increased from 14% (control without nano) to 97% after 7 days of plantation. Also, the same trend was noticed for fenugreek crop, the germination percentage was enhanced from 25% (control without nano) to 93.14%.