Raza Muhammad Aown Sammar, Muhammad Faqeer, Farooq Muhammad, Aslam Muhammad Usman, Akhter Naseem, Toleikienė Monika, Binobead Manal Abdulaziz, Ali M Ajmal, Rizwan Muhammad, Iqbal Rashid
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan.
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Allama Iqbal Road, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan.
Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 13;15(1):5309. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-89718-2.
Drought-stressed and zinc-deficient soils are major contributors to reduced wheat yields and low-quality grains, especially in semi-arid regions of the world. Zinc-oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) are adept enough to avoid these losses if applied under the right dose at the right growth stage of many crops including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted with four levels of ZnO-NPs (0, 50, 100 and 150 ppm), and drought imposed at tillering (D) and grain filling (D) stages, considering normal irrigation as control (D), to explore interactive effects of ZnO-NPs and drought episodes on growth, eco-physiology, yield, and grain quality of wheat. The results depicted dose and growth stage-dependent variations in all recorded parameters. ZnO-NPs (150 ppm) significantly increased the number of grains (12.5%), grain weight (12.4%), total yield (25.5%), and zinc contents (58.6%) when the crop was exposed to drought stress at tillering stage, compared to the control treatment. Likewise, drought at grain filling stage with ZnO-NPs (150 ppm) significantly enhanced plant height, spike length, biomass, zinc contents, and grain protein by 15.5%, 3.2%, 16.7%, 100.0%, and 53.8%, respectively, when compared with control treatment. Thus, ZnO-NPs emerged as a potential drought alleviator and yield-oriented safe nano-fertilizer for wheat in semi-arid regions facing irrigation challenges.
干旱胁迫和缺锌土壤是导致小麦产量降低和籽粒品质下降的主要因素，在世界半干旱地区尤为如此。如果在包括小麦（Triticum aestivum L.）在内的许多作物的合适生长阶段以合适剂量施用氧化锌纳米颗粒（ZnO-NPs），就足以避免这些损失。因此，进行了一项盆栽试验，设置了四个水平的ZnO-NPs（0、50、100和150 ppm），并在分蘖期（D）和灌浆期（D）施加干旱，以正常灌溉作为对照（D），探讨ZnO-NPs和干旱胁迫对小麦生长、生态生理、产量和籽粒品质的交互作用。结果表明，所有记录参数均存在剂量和生长阶段依赖性变化。与对照处理相比，当作物在分蘖期遭受干旱胁迫时，150 ppm的ZnO-NPs显著增加了籽粒数量（12.5%）、粒重（12.4%）、总产量（25.5%）和锌含量（58.6%）。同样，与对照处理相比，在灌浆期施加干旱并施用150 ppm的ZnO-NPs时，株高、穗长、生物量、锌含量和籽粒蛋白质分别显著提高了15.5%、3.2%、16.7%、100.0%和53.8%。因此，在面临灌溉挑战的半干旱地区，ZnO-NPs成为一种潜在的缓解小麦干旱和以产量为导向的安全纳米肥料。
