BOTANICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGICAL STUDIES OF ASPARAGUS PLANT (Asparagus officinalis L.) UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NANO ZINC

Abstract

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) plant belongs to the Aspargaceae family. The current study was performed on Asparagus officinalis L. (Mary Washington 500 W cultivar) of the Asparagaceae family. The duration of the study was three years, from 2017 to 2019 and included three experiments, the first was a potted experiment (in vivo), which was carried out at the Agricultural Experimental Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, and aimed to display the effect of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on Asparagus officinalisL. plant by using some morphological, histological and biochemical parameters. The second was a laboratory experiment (in vitro) that was carried out in the Tissue Culture Laboratory, Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, as well as in the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, National Research Centre,to evaluate the effect of Zinc oxide nanoparticles on callus biomass, cell viability (%), and flavonoid content in callus and suspension cultures of Asparagus plant . The third was a laboratory experiment (in vitro) which was conducted in the Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, with the aim of assessing the antimicrobial effect of different biomass extracts of Asparagus plant and estimating the inhibition zones. The obtained results and observations could be summarized as follows: