Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Phaseolus vulgaris L. Extracts and Investigation of their Antifungal Activities

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using leaf, root, and stem extracts of Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Yunus-90) and elucidate their antifungal activities. In this regard, the prepared AgNPs have been characterized by using UV-vis, FT-IR, TEM, SEM, and DLS techniques. Then, the antifungal activity of both synthesized and commercially purchased AgNPs was investigated via (i) agar well diffusion, (ii) fungal colony morphotype diversity, (iii) inhibition of hyphae and (iv) minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) analyses against Colletotrichum sp., Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium acuminatum, Fusarium tricinctum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium incarnatum, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Alternaria alternata. The AgNPs derived from the leaf extract displayed significantly higher levels of antifungal activity relative to the AgNPs prepared from the root and stem extracts. The commercial AgNPs also displayed lower antifungal activity than their green equivalents synthesized in this research, and even a low (~50 μg/mL) concentration of synthesized AgNPs was found to be effective in suppressing the growth of Fusarium tricinctum and Colletotrichum sp.