Preliminary studies on the effect of nanoparticle seed treatments on seed quality attributes and yield in chickpea

Nanotechnology is a novel and emerging approach that can be utilized in the agriculture sector for biotic and abiotic stress management, disease detection, and nutrient absorption. Various metal oxide nanoparticles such as zinc, titanium, silicon oxides were found to have a positive effect on seed quality attributes in various crops. Therefore, a study was carried out on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) with the objective to study the effect of nanoparticles on seed quality attributes including germination, seedling growth, vigour and yield. The seeds were dressed and infused with each of nano and bulk forms of zinc oxide, titanium oxide, silicon dioxide@ 50, 100, 250, 500 and 750 ppm along with the two controls i.e. untreated and thiram treated seeds (recommended package of practices) and were evaluated for various seed quality parameters and yield attributes. The study revealed that significantly the highest radicle emergence percentage, germination percentage, seedling length, vigour index-I, vigour index-II, dehydrogenase enzyme activity, field emergence percentage, seed yield per plant, and the lowest electrical conductivity were recorded for the seeds treated with dry formulation of nano form of ZnO nanoparticle at concentration of 250 ppm, significantly the lowest pathogen infection percentage was recorded in seeds treated with dry formulation of nano form of ZnO nanoparticle at concentration of 250 ppm, dry formulation of nano form of ZnO nanoparticle at concentration of 500 ppm and dry formulation of nano form of TiO2 nanoparticle at a concentration of 100 ppm and the lowest insect infestation percentage was observed in seeds treated with dry nano ZnO@ 250 ppm and dry nano ZnO@ 500 ppm compared to both controls. The conclusion drawn from the study that the dry formulation of nano form of ZnO nanoparticle at concentration of 250 ppm was found to be most effective treatment for enhancement of seed quality attributes and yield in chickpea.