article · Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences
Drought stress severely limits plant growth, crop quality, and agricultural yields. Researchers evaluated the use of silicon dioxide, applied either in bulk form or as nanoparticles derived from rice husk, to support wheat seedlings exposed to varying levels of water availability. Wheat plants were tested under three watering regimes and treated with different concentrations of bulk silicon or nano-silicon. Both forms enhanced seedling growth, boosting shoot and root weight, relative water content, photosynthetic pigments, and proline accumulation. In particular, nano-silicon applied at a concentration of 100 milligrams per litre decreased lipid peroxidation, raised levels of protective antioxidant enzymes and free amino acids, and reduced soluble sugars. In addition, cytotoxicity testing confirmed the safety of the nano-silicon material, demonstrating that rice husk-derived nano-silicon can effectively improve drought resilience in wheat.
Drought poses a continuous threat to global wheat production, which is essential for staple food security. Finding sustainable, affordable treatments that bolster crop resilience can protect harvest yields during water shortages. Demonstrating that safe, beneficial nanoparticles can be extracted from rice husk, an abundant agricultural waste product, offers an environmentally friendly method to help cereals withstand water scarcity.
The findings could enable agricultural input manufacturers to formulate sustainable biostimulants or nano-fertilisers derived from rice husk waste to protect crops against drought. The primary end users would be cereal farmers facing water deficit. As the evidence comes from controlled seedling trials and laboratory cytotoxicity assays, the work is at an applied research stage and requires open-field validation before reaching market readiness.
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Abstract Background Abiotic stresses, like drought, are the major cause of shrinking plant, growth crop yields and quality. Nanotechnology has provided a significant improvement in increasing plant growth and yield of crops under stress conditions. This work assessed the potential of silicon for mitigating the negative effects of drought against wheat. In completely randomized design with three replicates, wheat seedlings grown under three watering levels (100, 60 and 40% of water holding capacity) were treated by silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) as a normal or bulk form (Si) and SiO 2 nanoparticles (SiNPs) with concentrations of 100 and 200 mg L −1 . SiNPs was extracted from rice husk. Results Si and SiNPs treatments are shown to improve the growth of plants and increase the shoots and root weight, relative water content, photosynthetic pigments, and proline in wheat. SiO 2 either normal or nanoparticles at 100 mg L −1 decreased lipid peroxidation as malondialdehyde was reduced. Also, nano-silicon increased free amino acids, antioxidant enzymes while decreased soluble sugars. Cytotoxicity assay proved the safety of nano-silicon usage. Conclusions In conclusion, the present study documented the significance of rice husk-extracted nano-silicon at rate of 100 mg L −1 for improving growth and increasing tolerance to drought in wheat grown under water deficit.
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DOI: 10.1186/s43088-024-00529-2
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