Document Type : Complete scientific research article
Authors
1
MSc Graduated, Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
2
Associate Professor, Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
3
Professor, Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
4
Assistant Professor at Ardabil University of Applied Science and Technology, Ardabil, Iran
10.22069/ejcp.2024.21671.2600
Abstract
Background and objectives: In arid and semi-arid regions, drought stress decreases crop growth and yield. There are several strategies to decrease the negative effects caused by environmental stresses on crop growth and yield. The Utilization of silicon is one of the most valuable and practical approaches for improving physiological and Agronomic characteristics and crop tolerance under drought stress conditions. Silicon as an essential micronutrient for biological systems plays a crucial physiological role in increasing tolerance to environmental stresses. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of foliar application of silicon nanoparticles on the physiological and agronomical characteristics of pinto beans including malondialdehyde (MDA) content, grain yield, and yield components under water deficit conditions.
Materials and methods: This experiment was performed to study the effect of foliar application of nanoSilicon on the physiological and agronomic characteristics of bean under drought stress at the end of the season, A split plot experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the crop year 2018-2019. The study treatments included irrigation levels (full irrigation as a control and irrigation cut off at the flowering stage) as the main plots and silicon nanoparticles foliar application in three levels (no foliar application as a control and foliar application of 1 and 3 mM silicon nanoparticles) as the sub-plots. The foliar application of silicon nanoparticles was replicated three times (6-8 leaves), 50% flowering stage, and 50% podding stage). The physiological traits including the chlorophyll index, the electrical conductivity of materials leaked from leaves, and MDA content and agronomical traits including the plant height, the number of branches, pods per plant and seeds per plant, biological yield, and seed yield and yield components were measured in control and treated plants.
Results:
The results showed that plant height, number of sub-branches, chlorophyll index, electrical conductivity, MDA content, seed yield, and biological at the probability level of 1% and number of seeds per plant became significant at the probability level of 5% influenced by irrigation and silicon nanoparticles treatments. Also, the effect of irrigation factors and nanosilicon on the traits of the number of pods per plant and the weight of 100 seeds were significant at the probability level of 5 and 1%, respectively. Drought stress at the end of the season remarkably increased the MDA content and electrical conductivity of the leaked material and reduced the leaf chlorophyll index (14.44%) and, grain yield (14.18%) in pinto bean plants. Under both control (full irrigation) and drought stress conditions, the foliar spraying of beans with 1 and 3 mM of silicon nanoparticles caused a significant improvement in leaf chlorophyll index, plant height, the number of sub-branches, seeds per plant and pods per plant. So. the highest leaf chlorophyll index, seed yield, and biological yield per unit area were obtained with the application of 3 mM silicon nanoparticles.
Conclusion:
Under both favorable and unfavorable environmental conditions, foliar spraying of plants with silicon nanoparticles had a positive and significant effect on physiological and agronomic traits in pinto bean plants. It seems that silicon nanoparticles increases the yield of pinto beans under drought stress conditions by improving the chlorophyll index and some agricultural traits including plant height, number of sub-branches, number of seeds per plant, and number of pods per plant. Among the studied treatments, the greatest improvement in the physiological and yield traits of pinto beans under control and drought stress conditions was obtained with the 3 mM silicon nanoparticles foliar application. Therefore, the application of 3 mM silicon nanoparticles can be suggested as an effective approach for mitigating the impact of drought stress in pinto beans.
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