Obtaining Vegetable Production Enriched with Minor Micronutrients Using Fullerene Derivatives

Elaborating on the methods and means of enriching nutrition, including that of plants, with a number of microelements that are vital for humans is now very important due to the unresolved acute problems of micronutrient deficiency and imbalance, which affect the majority of the population of various countries in the world. Promising solutions for the implementation of biofortification in terms of safety, efficiency, size, biocompatibility, and transportability are the water-soluble derivatives of C60 or C70 fullerene. By now, the use of water-soluble fullerenes (C60(OH)22–24 or C70(OH)12–14 fullerenols, C60 fullerene with glycine or with arginine: C60-L-Gly or C60-L-Arg) with various functional groups for plant enrichment is pioneering. Experimental research work was carried out at the agrobiopolygon of the Agrophysical Research Institute under controlled microclimate conditions. This work constituted an assessment of the influence of C60(OH)22–24 fullerenol introduction into the soil on the content of macro- and microelements in the soil and in plants, for example, cucumber, as well as on the plants’ physiological state (photosynthetic pigments, the intensity of lipid peroxidation, the activity of peroxidase and catalase enzymes), growth, and element content. Its aim was to study the possibility of enriching the plants’ production (Chinese cabbage, tomato, and cucumber) with compositions of the fullerene derivatives (C60-L-Gly or C60-L-Arg, C60(OH)22–24 or C70(OH)12–14 fullerenols) and selenium or zinc compounds by introducing them into a nutrient solution or by foliar treatment of plants. It was revealed that the introduction of solutions of C60 fullerenol in various concentrations (1 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, and 100 mg/kg) into soddy-podzolic sandy loamy soil contributed to the activation of the processes of nitrogen transformation in the soil, in particular, the enhancement of the process of nitrification, and to the increase in the content of mobile forms of some macro- and microelements in the soil as well as of the latter in plant organs, for example, in cucumber plants, especially in their leaves. Along with this, the plants showed an increase in the content of photosynthetic pigments, a predominant decrease in the activity of the oxidative enzyme peroxidase and in the intensity of lipid peroxidation, and an increase in the content of the reducing enzyme catalase. The improvement in the physiological state of plants had a positive effect on the growth rates of cucumber plants. The compositions of solutions of amino acid fullerenes (C60-L-Gly or C60-L-Arg) and sodium selenate as well as C60 or C70 fullerenols and zinc sulfate, selected on the basis of different charges of molecules or functional groups of fullerene derivatives, showed higher efficiency at low concentrations in enriching the plant products of Chinese cabbage, tomato, and cucumber with selenium and zinc, respectively, compared with mineral salts of the indicated elements and control (edible part of Chinese cabbage: by 31.0−89.0% relative to that in the control and by 26.0–81.0% relative to the treatment of plants with a sodium selenate; tomato fruits: by 33.7–42.2% relative to that in the control and by 10.2–17.2% relative to the treatment of plants with a sodium selenate; cucumber fruits: by 42.0–59.0% relative to that in the control and by 10.0–23.0% relative to the treatment of plants with a zinc sulfate). At the same time, the quantitative characteristics of growth, productivity, and/or quality of the obtained products increase and improve accordingly. The prospects for further research include an in-depth study into the mechanisms of the compositions of fullerene derivatives and various compounds of trace elements’ influence on the plants, as well as the synthesis and study of the various exo- and endo derivatives of fullerenes’ properties, including C60 complex compounds with transition metals and fullerenes, which, inside their carbon networks, contain atoms of various chemical elements, such as lanthanum and others.