Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
Saline Agriculture Research Centre, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 4;13(1):2022. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26039-8.
Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a major health concern in developing countries due to dependency on cereal based diet. Cereals are inherently low in Zn and inevitable use of stressed land has further elevated the problem. The aim of current research was to improve wheat and rice grains grain Zn concentration grown in saline soils through zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) due to their perspective high availability. The ZnO-NPs were prepared by co-precipitation method and characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Two separate pot experiments for wheat and rice were conducted to check the relative effectiveness of ZnO-NPs compared to other bulk Zn sources i.e., zinc sulphate heptahydrate (ZnSO·7HO) and ZnO. Results showed that salt stress negatively impacted the tested parameters. There was a significant (p ≤ 0.05) improvement in growth, salt tolerance, plant Zn uptake and grain Zn concentrations by Zn application through Zn sources. The ZnO-NPs showed maximum improvement in crops parameters as compared to other sources due to their higher uptake and translocation in plants under both normal and stressed soil conditions. Thus, ZnO nanoparticles proved to be more effective for grain Zn fortification in both tested wheat and rice crops under normal and saline conditions.
锌（Zn）缺乏是发展中国家的一个主要健康问题，这是由于对以谷物为基础的饮食的依赖。谷物本身的锌含量较低，而不可避免地对贫瘠土地的使用进一步加剧了这个问题。目前研究的目的是通过氧化锌纳米粒子（ZnO-NPs）提高在盐渍土壤中种植的小麦和水稻的籽粒锌浓度，因为它们具有很高的可用性。通过共沉淀法制备 ZnO-NPs，并通过 X 射线衍射（XRD）和扫描电子显微镜（SEM）进行表征。进行了两个单独的小麦和水稻盆栽实验，以检查 ZnO-NPs 与其他大量锌源（即七水合硫酸锌（ZnSO·7HO）和 ZnO）相比的相对有效性。结果表明，盐胁迫对测试参数产生负面影响。通过锌源施加锌显著（p≤0.05）改善了生长、耐盐性、植物锌吸收和籽粒锌浓度。与其他来源相比，ZnO-NPs 显示出对作物参数的最大改善，这是由于它们在正常和胁迫土壤条件下对植物的吸收和转运更高。因此，在正常和盐渍条件下，ZnO 纳米粒子被证明在两种测试的小麦和水稻作物中对谷物锌强化更有效。
