Zinc Nanoparticles for Contributing Salinity Stress Resilience in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract Wheat is the most widely grown food crop in the world. The world is seeing much of its wheat yield decline due to salt stress. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of zinc nanoparticles in improving resilience to salt stress in wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.). ZnNP was biosynthesized using Crassula multicava leaf extract as reducing agent and capping agent. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized to evaluate structural and biochemical aspects. The ZnNPs were found to be irregular in shape at 100nm magnification by TEM analysis. The average size of the biosynthesized ZnNPs was 64.6 nm as evidenced by DLS analysis. The experiment was laid out with a randomized complete block designed and arranged with eight replications in the pots with 5 rows having one row of control and the other 4 rows of different salinity levels such as 100mM, 75mM, 50mM, and 25mM. The crop was subjected to a total 3 treatments; The first NaCl stress was given on emergence of the Tillering stage (30 DAS) and after 2 days of salinity stress period the wheat plant pots were treated with 2mM zinc nanoparticles, second at the Booting stage (58 DAS) and third at Flowering stage. Plants that were not stressed with NaCl and not treated with NPs were considered as controls. Plant growth parameters were recorded. The results obtained showed that the application of ZnNP had a positive effect on all morphological and yield characteristics of wheat plants. The best results were recorded in potted plants subjected to 25 mM NaCl stress and treated with ZnNPs and showed a significant effect compared to the control at p < 0.05. The study concluded that ZnNPs can contribute to enhancing the resilience of wheat to salt stress.