BIOCHEMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF NANOPARTICLES ON COTTON PLANT

Abstract

Application of nanofertilizers is one of the promising methods for increasing resources use efficiency and reducing environmental pollutions. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of lithovit (nano-CaCO3), nano titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) and nano silicon dioxide (nano-SiO2) on chemical constituents and yield characteristics of cotton plant under drought and normal conditions. The cotton plants pre-treated with four concentrations of nano-CaCO3 (3000, 6000, 9000 and 11000 ppm), nano-TiO2 (25, 50, 100 and 200 ppm) or nano-SiO2 (400, 800, 1600 and 3200 ppm) then exposed to drought and normal conditions. In general, the drought stress reduced the pigments content, total soluble sugars content, glutathione reductase activity and yield characteristics, while increased total phenolics, total soluble proteins, total free amino acids, free proline content, total reducing power, total antioxidant capacity, catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities in comparison with control. The obtained results showed that pretreatment of cotton plants under drought and normal conditions with nano-CaCO3, nano-TiO2 or nano-SiO2 caused increasing of pigments content, total soluble sugars, total phenolics, total soluble proteins, total free amino acids, free proline content, total reducing power, total antioxidant capacity, antioxidant enzyme activities and enhancement of yield characteristics. The optimum concentrations of nano-CaCO3, nano-TiO2 and nano-SiO2 to alleviate the drought stress and improve the productivity under normal condition in cotton plants were 1100, 50 and 3200 ppm, respectively. Finally, it can be concluded that foliar application of nano-CaCO3, nano-TiO2 or nano-SiO2 could improve the drought tolerance and improve the productivity of cotton plants under normal condition.