• Manganese fertilization can control a number of pathogenic diseases such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, take-all, tan spot, and several others (Brennan, 1992; Huber and Graham, 1999; Heckman et al., 2003; Simoglou and Dordas, 2006).

• Thus, use of nanoparticles has been considered an alternate and effective approach which is eco-friendly and cost effective for the control of pathogenic microbes (Kumar and Yadav, 2009; Prasad et al., 2011; Swamy and Prasad, 2012; Prasad and Swamy, 2013).

• Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli strains that are pathogenic to humans are increasingly common in poultry or beef produced in large-scale operations14.