A preliminary study of influence of zinc oxide nanoparticles on growth parameters of Brassica oleracea var italica

Abstract Application of nanoparticles in the field of agriculture can increase crop production. It can also decrease mineral loss and can lessen the fertilizer use. The present study deals with synthesis (green) of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) from ZnSO4 solution and seed extract of black seeds (Nigella sativa L.) that acted as reducing agent. To characterize the newly formed nanoparticles UV-visible spectrophotometer, particle size analyzer and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were used. Seven concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 µg/L) of ZnO-NPs were given to the seeds of Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var italic) with ZnSO4 salt solution treatment as control. Results of the particle size analyzer and SEM showed the spherical nanoparticles with particle size of 24 nm. The application of ZnO-NPs to the Broccoli resulted an enhancement of 37.5% in seed germination, 56.6% in root length, 16.6% in shoot length, 41% in weight of seedlings, 11.5% in number of leaves, 17.1% in plant height, 24.4% in leaf area. Chlorophyll, phenolic, proline and sugar content were also observed to be increased by 50%, 67.4%, 14.6% and 36.2% respectively as compared to the distilled water treatment without any nanoparticle. Whereas results also proved higher efficiency of zinc oxide nanoparticles for enhancing crop growth as compared to the macro size ZnSO4 salt solution. From the results, it was concluded that zinc oxide nanoparticles can be a useful nano-supplement to improve the production of B. oleracea var italica. It is first time report for use of green synthesized ZnO-NPs as nanofertilizers for B. oleracea var italic crop.