Studying Effect of Nano-Silicon Spraying Process on Improved Productivity of Eggplant Grown in Arid Regions and Hot Areas

Abstract

Two field investigations were carried out on the Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Aswan University in Aswan, Egypt, in the summer of 2021 and 2022. This study primary goal is to determine whether foliar application of nano-silicon (control, 100, 200, and 300 mg/L) is effective in mitigating heat stress during the eggplant growing season in the Aswan governorate and at three transplanting dates (1 st March, 15 th March and 1 st April) under high air temperature conditions in arid regions. The investigated included the assessment of vegetative growth performance, yield, fruit quality the pigments of photosynthetic (chlorophyll and carotenoids) and catalase enzyme activity. Results indicated that spraying of nano-silicon topically at rate (300 mg/L) generally led to significant effects in all the studied characteristics. At the same direction, 1 st March transplantation showed a strong beneficial influence on every characteristic that was examined compared to another transplanting date. Moreover, combination nano-silicon at (300 mg/L) with 1 st March transplantation produced significant increases in the majority of the measures examined. Nano-silicon at 300 mg/L showed significant rises in the most studied characteristics at 15 th March and 1 st April compared to control. In summarize up, the results indicate suggest the potential use of foliage spraying with nano-silicon particles as a compound has a lot of potential benefits for the plant to improving eggplant growth performance and production in arid regions and hot areas.