Role of nanosilicab to boost the activities of metabolites in Triticum aestivum facing drought stress

Abstract

Drought stress is a threat to agriculture which is decreasing the yield of crops and creating a considerable loss. This research focused on the part played by silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs), biofertilizers, and nanosilicab on Triticum aestivum under control and drought stress. Nanosilicab enhanced the germination percentage, germination index, and germination vigor index by 23.07%, 14.49% and, 93.10% under control and 14.42%, 10.52%, and 46.15% under drought. In the pot experiment, the soil was treated with 150 mg/kg SiO2 NPs, 1% biofertilizer and, 1% nanosilicab before sowing. Nanosilicab increased shoot length and root length by 9.39%, 10.76%, 22.41%, 18.76%, 30.58%, and, 21.56% under control and drought stress conditions. It also increased photosynthetic pigments, osmolytes content, relative water content, membrane stability index, phenol, and flavonoid content. The increase in antioxidant activity was significantly high by the application of nanosilicab i.e. the augmentation in catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase was 68.65%, 83.69% and, 85.99% respectively. It also increased the indole acetic acid and cytokinin to 22.28% and 14.79% in comparison to control. The improvement in hundred grain weight and grains per spike by the use of nanosilicab was 36.25%, 38.76%, 27.47%, and 22.59% as compared to control. The positive interaction of nanosilicab with the roots of plants in the rhizosphere improved the growth of plants significantly and a potential candidate for application on crops. The novelty of this study lies in the formulation of nanosilicab and its role in drought amelioration.