Zinc oxide nanoparticle-mediated changes in photosynthetic efficiency and antioxidant system of tomato plants

The present study was carried out to assess the role of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) in tomato plants on growth, photosynthetic efficiency, and antioxidant system. At 20-d stage of growth, roots of tomato plants were dipped into 0, 2, 4, 8, or 16 mg(ZnO-NPs) L-1 for 15, 30, and 45 min and then seedlings were transplanted in their respective cups and allowed to grow under natural environmental conditions. At 45-d stage of growth, the ZnO-NPs treatments significantly increased growth, photosynthetic efficiency together with activities of carbonic anhydrase and antioxidant systems in a concentration- and duration-dependent manner. Moreover, the treatment by 8 mg(ZnO-NPs) L-1 for 30 min proved to be the most effective and resulted in maximum activities of antioxidant enzymes, proline accumulation and the photosynthetic rate. We concluded that presence of ZnO-NPs improved the antioxidant systems and speeded up proline accumulation that could provide stability to plants and improved photosynthetic efficiency.