مستخلص: |
Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) in the regulation of germination and seedling parameters of Bitter vetch (Vicia erviliaL.). Plants under salinity stress [sodium chloride (NaCl)] and drought stress [polyethylene glycol 6000, H(OCH2CH2)nOH synonyms: (PEG)]. Experimental salinity was controlled in terms of dS/m at levels of 0 (control), 4 and 12 dS/m and PEG induced drought stress (0, –0.4, and –0.8 MPa). TiO2NPs (0, 20, and 40 ppm) was applied to Bitter vetch seed at germination and seedling growth at 21 days. The experiment was a three (TiO2NPs) × three (salt) × three (drought) factorial combination (for 27 treatments) with three replicates. After 21 day cultivation, plants were harvested to determine the germination parameters, root length, shoot length, root and shoot fresh weight, root and shoot dry weight, and the proline content. Exposure of salinity stress and drought stress alone reduced the germination parameter in the plant. However, the application of TiO2NPs protects Bitter vetch plants against salinity and drought stress as well as improves the germination parameters, root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight and shoot fresh weight compared to control. The application of TiO2NPs significantly enhanced germination percentage (GP), germination rate (GR), germination index (GI), seed vigor index (SVI), root length (RL), shoot length (SL), root and shoot fresh weight (RSFW), root and shoot dry weight (RSDW) up to 19, 23, 38, 16, 85, 45, 59, and 14%, respectively, under severe drought stress. And the application of TiO2NPs significantly enhanced (GP), (GR), (GI), (SVI), (RL), (SL), (RSFW), and (RSDW) up to 5.4, 46.5, 61.6, 8.5, 3.9, 33, 44, and 11%, respectively, under severe salinity stress. Based on biomass assay, it was found that the seedlings displayed good growth over control, demonstrating a positive effect of the TiO2NPs treatment. In high concentrations of TiO2NPs, no positive effects were observed on the germination characteristics of seed Bitter vetch. To conclude the use of TiO2NPs can be improved by improving the seed germination properties of the plant Bitter vetch that cause increases plant’s establishment in natural areas. |