Impact of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on Seed Germination Characteristics in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Under Salinity Stress

An exciting new window of opportunity has opened up for environmentally responsible farming with the advent of the nanotechnology era: the role of nanoparticles (NPs) to mitigate abiotic stresses. NPs have unique physiochemical characteristics that make them an attractive study subject. Rice growth and yield are severely inhibited by salinity, a major detrimental abiotic factor. However, the impact of NPs on rice seeds germination characteristics and physio-biochemical phenomena under salt stress conditions remains poorly understood. Accordingly, we intended to look at how zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) affected germination processes and the early seedling stage while the rice plants (Kargi and CSR 30 rice genotypes) were put under salinity stress. Different germination characteristics parameters were considered, e.g., germination percentage (GP) relative seed germination rate (RGR), and seed vigour index (SVI) determined after eight days of treatment with ZnO-NPs at a concentration of 50 mg/L on rice seed. After passing the germination test, the seeds were placed in Hoagland hydroponic solution and given another week of ZnO-NPs treatment to evaluate the seedling growth and phyto-biochemical characteristics, such as shoot height and root length, inhibition percentage of shoot height and root length, chlorophyll and carotenoid stability index, chlorophyll and carotenoid inhibition percentage, malondialdehyde (MAD) content and antioxidant enzymatic activities (SOD, APX).This investigation demonstrated that 50 mg/L ZnO-NPs have the potential to alleviate the effect of salt stress on rice genotypes during the germination stage.