Vegetos

Abstract

Agriculture is the backbone of most developing countries and it provides food for humans, directly and indirectly. Agricultural practices are catching public attention globally because climate change, energy and resource constraints, and rapidly growing global population are constantly increasing pressure on food and water resources. The use of nanoparticles in crop sciences is consistently increasing. Several advantageous effects of nanoparticles have been observed on crop plants. Copper (Cu) is an essential nutrient for the growth of plants and plays an important role in the photosynthetic reactions. Copper activates several enzymes, contributes in RNA synthesis and improve the performance of photosystems. But at higher level of Cu, seed germination and plant growth may be adversely affected. In the present study we administered copper oxide nanoparticle in varying concentration to assess the changes in germination percentage, root and shoot length, vigor index and total chlorophyll in soybean. Results showed a significant change in all the above parameters at 200ppm concentration in response to control. Thereafter high concentration of copper oxide nanoparticle proved to be toxic resulting in decrease in plant germination and decrease in vigor index and total chlorophyll.