Influence of Zinc Oxide Nano Spray on the Growth and Development of Bryophyllum pinnatum

Abstract

Background and objectives: Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the best applied nanoscale technologies in
agriculture. It showed both positive and negative effects on plant growth.
The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of ZnO NPs positive or negative effect as a foliar fertilizer on
the growth and development of Brophyllum pinnatum seedlings and which concentration play a crucial role
in its positivity
Methods: The study was conducted as completely randomized design to detect the effect of three levels of
green ZnO NPs foliar spray; 0.20, 0.40 and 0.60 ppm as compared to control on some physiological
anatomical characters of Brophyllum pinnatum seedlings.
Results: The results had obtained showed that maximum stem height 32.33 and 44.00 cm due to 0.60 ppm
after first and second sprays over control. The same level led to a significant increase in leaf area, shoot dry
weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW), total seedling dry weight (TDW) and root: shoot (R:S) ratio; 58.67
cm2, 1.60 g, 0.44 g and 2.09 g and 3.79 respectively. The highest chlorophyll a, b and total recorded duo to
0.40 ppm; 0.72, 0.04 and 0.76 mg g-1 of fresh leaves respectively. The transverse sections prepared by
paraffin methods shows the anatomy of plant parts such as stem, petiole and leaf effect with treated by ZnO
NPs; through two Periods (30 days, and 60 days). 0.40 and 0.60 ppm represent the best promoter of the
physiological behavior and anatomical characters; midrib, petiole, lamina and stem anatomy.
Conclusions: It could be concluded that foliar application with green ZnO NPs behaved as a growth promoter
for Brophyllum pinnatum. 0.40 and 0.60 ppm represent the best concentration to enhance best performance
in the plant body that affect the physiological behavior and anatomical characters