Vegetos

Abstract

Mustard (Brassica nigra L.) is an important oil crops of India. There has been a diversion of acreage from mustard oil seed as a result of “Second Green Revolution” brought by the high yielding varieties of seed. Applications of nanotechnology are novel in the field of biotechnology and agriculture. Metal-oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have unique physicochemical properties and the potential to boost the plant metabolism. Increasing demand provokes the research to estimate the feasibility of effective dose NPs for increase yield potential along with quality production in mustard. Seeds of two mustard varieties namely Shayam 101 and Superteja were soaked for 24 hrs with NPs of iron oxide, copper oxide, and zinc oxide (100, 200, 300, 400, and 500ppm). The soaked seeds were sown in pots and were kept in net house. The results revealed that lower doses of NPs stimulated seed germination in both the varieties whereas higher concentrations copper oxide and zinc oxide NPs strongly inhibited the germination. All the metal oxide NPs enhanced plant height at 400ppm (at 20 days after sowing) and number of branches at 400ppm (at 40 days after sowing), in both the varieties. The maximum number of silique per plant and the maximum silique length were exhibited by copper oxide NPs at 400ppm. Higher concentrations of iron oxide NPs (400ppm) and copper oxide NPs (300ppm) displayed superior responses for test weight (g) and harvest index (%), respectively.