Page 70 - EER-2-3

Explora: Environment
and Resource ZnO and TiO nanoparticles and its impact on chickpeas
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on seed germination and plant growth development. 2.6. Biochemical analysis
Factors such as nanoparticle concentration, size, and shape 2.6.1. Total chlorophyll and carotenoid content
play vital roles in determining their bio-effectiveness on
plants. Therefore, this study offers a low-cost treatment Photosynthetic pigments were measured using a 100 mg
approach that may enhance seed germination and support leaf sample mixed with 10 mL of 80% acetone (v/v) solution.
sustainable agriculture. The solution’s optical density was measured at 663 nm and
645 nm using the formulas described by Maclachlan and
2. Materials and methods Zalik and Yentsh and Duxbury. 14
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2.1. Experimental design 2.6.2. Ascorbic acid estimation
Two experiments were conducted: (i) seed germination The concentration of ascorbic acid was determined based
and (ii) a field experiment analyzing plant growth on its ability to reduce 2, 6-dichlorophenolindophenol.
and physiology. Both experiments were conducted in A 500 mg fresh leaf sample was homogenized in 20 mL of
triplicates. The germination experiment was conducted extraction solution (containing 5 g of oxalic acid and 0.075 g
using 150 mm glass Petri dishes (Sidhi Trading Co., India) of EDTA in 100 mL of distilled water) and centrifuged for
with a completely randomized design. Each Petri dish 15 min at 12,000× g. From the resulting supernatant, 1 mL
contains 30 uniform seeds of chickpeas (C. arietinum L.) was mixed with 5 mL of 2, 6-dichlorophenolindophenol
treated with tap water (T1), 25 parts per million (ppm) solution. The absorbance of the resulting pink solution
TiO (T2), 50 ppm TiO (T3), 25 ppm ZnO (T4), and (Es) was measured at 520 nm. Subsequently, in the same
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50 ppm ZnO (T5), in room temperature. A total of 30 solution, one drop of ascorbic acid solution was added, and
seeds were placed in dishes that were lined with cotton the absorbance (Et) was measured at the same wavelength.
and watered. For the field experiment, the same treatments For the blank (Eo), 1 mL of ascorbic acid solution was used
were applied in 1 m plots. in place of the sample. Ascorbic acid concentration was
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2.2. Seed and nanoparticle selection calculated using the following formula in Equation II:
The local variety (Swetha [ICCV2]) of chickpeas Ascorbic acid (mg/g fresh leaf) = [{Eo− (Es− Et)} × V]/
(C. arietinum L.) was selected for seed treatment using (v × W × 1,000) (II)
ZnO and TiO nanoparticles.
2 2.7. Statistical analysis
2.3. Seed germination The experiment was conducted with fully randomized
The germination experiment was conducted at room block designs. The statistical package for the social sciences
temperature. It was continuously monitored until the (SPSS) (SPSS Inc., version 17.0) software was used for
radicle length touched half of the seed length. Seed Duncan’s Multiple Range Test analysis. The least significant
germination was assessed. The germination characteristics differences were estimated at the p>0.05 level among
were measured in triplicate using the following formula in treatments. The mean values of each parameter were
Equation I. 10 given in triplicate of samples and the mean and standard
deviation were calculated using Microsoft Excel (2013).
GP = (NS ÷ TNS) × 100 (I)
3. Results and discussion
Where GP refers to germination percentage, NS is the
number of germinated seeds, and TNS is the total number 3.1. Nanoparticle effectiveness on seed germination
of seeds sown. and vigor indices
Germination and quality of seed have a direct impact
2.4. Plant analysis
on agricultural production, with high-quality seeds
Plants were harvested 10 and 20 days after germination making a substantial contribution to total crop yields.
(DAG) and transferred to the lab for growth measurement The Indian seed industry is essential for giving farmers
and physiological analysis. 11 access to high-quality seeds, fostering research and
development, and providing a wide range of product
2.5. Growth and biomass analysis options. Therefore, the experiment for seed germination
Plant lengths (cm/plant) were measured using a meter improvements will be beneficial for crop production. In
scale (Jlab, India). The graphical method was used for the present study, two types of nanoparticles were used
measuring the leaf area of plants (cm ). The dry masses of to enhance seed germination. It was found that both TiO
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plants were weighed after hot air oven drying at 80°C. 11,12 and ZnO nanoparticles improved seed germination. The
Volume 2 Issue 3 (2025) 3 doi: 10.36922/EER025120024