GREEN SYNTHESIS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES USING MILLETS, ITS CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

The development of Nanotechnology has paved the way to study various nanomaterials. Nanoparticles are structures that measure the size from 1-100nm. Widely used nanoparticles are usually prepared using noble metals, that is, gold, silver, palladium, and platinum. At the same time, they find their way into a wide range of applications in medicine, electronics, energy saving, environment, textile, cosmetics, biomedical, etc. The natural reducing agents in plants, such as carbohydrates, flavonoids, etc., reduce the silver, generating potential silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles are intended to be used for the present study generated through green synthesis using millets. Millets are small-seeded grasses that are hardy and grow well in dry zones as rain-fed crops under marginal conditions of soil fertility and moisture. The different varieties of millets intended to be used in the project are Barnyard millet, Finger millet, Foxtail millet, Kodo millet, little millet, Pearl millet, Prosomillet, Sorghum. The Silver nanoparticles synthesized through an aqueous extract of different varieties were checked for their quality using UV-VIS spectrophotometer and Scanning electron microscopy. The nanoparticles peaked in the range of 410nm-430nm, and the average diameter below 50nm confirmed the presence of silver nanoparticles. Thus, synthesized silver nanoparticles were checked for antimicrobial activity by exposing them to E. coli, P. vulgaris, A. niger and T. viridae. The silver nanoparticles were confirmed to have an effective antimicrobial activity against the mentioned microorganisms.