Application of Silicon, Zinc, and Zeolite Nanoparticles—A Tool to Enhance Drought Stress Tolerance in Coriander Plants for Better Growth Performance and Productivity

Abstract

Drought stress in arid regions is a serious factor affecting yield quantity and quality of economic crops. Under drought conditions, the application of nano-elements and nano-agents of water retention improved the water use efficiency, growth performance, and yield quantity of drought-stressed plants. For this objective, two field experiments were performed and organized as randomized complete block designs with six replications. The treatments included kaolin (5 t. ha−1) bentonite (12.5 t. ha−1), perlite (1.25 t.ha−1), N-zeolite (1.3 L.ha−1), N-silicon (2.5 L.ha−1), and N-zinc (2.5 L.ha−1). The current study showed that the application of silicon, zinc, and zeolite nanoparticles only positively influenced the morphological, physiological, and biochemical properties of the drought-stressed coriander plant. Exogenous application of N-silicon, N-zinc, and N-zeolite recorded the higher growth parameters of drought-stressed plants; namely, plant fresh weight, plant dry weight, leaf area, and root length than all the other treatments in both seasons. The improvement ratio, on average for both seasons, reached 17.93, 17.93, and 18.85% for plant fresh weight, 73.46, 73.46, and 75.81% for plant dry weight, 3.65, 3.65, and 3.87% for leaf area, and 17.46, 17.46, and 17.16% for root length of drought-stressed plants treated with N-silicon, N-zinc, and N-zeolite, respectively. For physiological responses, the application of N-zeolite, N-silicon, and N-zinc significantly increased leaf chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, chlorophyll fluorescence, and photosystem II efficiency compared with the control in both seasons, respectively. Similar results were observed in antioxidant compounds, nutrient accumulation, and phytohormones. In contrast, those treatments markedly reduced the value of transpiration rate, nonphotochemical quenching, MDA, ABA, and CAT compared to control plants. Regarding the seed and oil yield, higher seed and oil yields were recorded in drought-stressed plants treated with N-zeolite followed by N-silicon and N-zinc than all the other treatments. Application of N-zeolite, N-silicon and N-zinc could be a promising approach to improve plant growth and productivity as well as to alleviate the adverse impacts of drought stress on coriander plants in arid and semi-arid areas.

Impact of biostimulants based amino acids and irrigation frequency on agro-physiological characteristics and productivity of broccoli plants

“…The SOD enzymes act as antioxidant role by scavenging superoxide anion free radical to H2O2 or O2, thus diminishing the injury caused by ROS through the breakdown of superoxide radicals that are produced by oxidative stress (Caverzan et al, 2016). Similar findings were observed by Abdelaziz et al (2021) and Mahmoud et al (2023). They stated that the levels of ABA and SOD significantly increased under stressful conditions such as drought and salinity stresses.…”

“…The Statistics 7 program was used to perform statistical analyses. An online statistical analysis and visualization software performed an analysis of Pearson's correlation and a Heatmap (Mahmoud et al, 2023).…”

Prevention of drought damage through zeolite treatments onVitis vinifera: A promising sustainable solution for soil management

“…In former studies, data substantiated that soil enforcement of water retention factors (e.g. zeolite) upgraded soil moisture and water storage, and boosted enhanced photosynthesis rate (Amirahmadi et al., 2022; Hazrati et al., 2022; Mahmoud et al., 2023). Probably following the recording of net photosynthesis values lower than 2 μmol/m 2 s and leaf temperatures of 40°C during July 2022, in the WS treatment, there may have been a degradation of the D1 protein (one of the most investigated photosynthetic polypeptide) (Edelman & Mattoo, 2008) and photoinhibition as showed by Ohira et al.…”

“…on Zea mays L. (Alfi & Azizi, 2015), Brassica napus L. (Shahsavari, 2019;Shahsavari et al, 2014), Cannabis sativa L. (Bahador & Tadayon, 2020), Dracocephalum moldavica L. (Karimzadeh Asl et al, 2018), Coriandrum sativum L. (Mahmoud et al, 2023), Vitis vinifera L. (Cataldo et al, 2022) and Triticum aestivum L. (Sedaghat et al, 2022).…”

“…According to several authors, zeolite proved to be a valid support for the ‘think green’ philosophy to help crops in times of drought. Their skills were recorded on Zea mays L. (Alfi & Azizi, 2015), Brassica napus L. (Shahsavari, 2019; Shahsavari et al., 2014), Cannabis sativa L. (Bahador & Tadayon, 2020), Dracocephalum moldavica L. (Karimzadeh Asl et al., 2018), Coriandrum sativum L. (Mahmoud et al., 2023), Vitis vinifera L. (Cataldo et al., 2022) and Triticum aestivum L. (Sedaghat et al., 2022).…”