Effects of nano Fe/SiO2 fertilizers on germination and growth of barley and maize

Abstract

ABSTRACTIron (Fe) nanoparticles (NPs), with 30–40 nm diameter, were stabilized on sand. The resulting synthesized Fe/SiO2 NPs, with different Fe contents (0–25 mg kg−1) were employed as fertilizers in probing the mean germination time (MGT), growth and dry matter of barley and maize and their comparison with common Fe/SiO2 in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. The results showed that our fertilizers had significant effects on MGT, with the lowest of 0.58 day for barley and 0.79 day for maize; at 15 and 5 mg kg−1 nano Fe/SiO2, respectively. Application of 15 mg kg−1 of nano Fe/SiO2 increased the shoot length: 8.25% and 20.8% for barley and maize, respectively. However, the concentration of 25 mg kg−1 had a negative impact on shoot length in barley. Increasing the concentrations of both nano and common Fe/SiO2 particles, increased the root lengths in both plants, however this increase was higher with the application of nano Fe/SiO2. Likewise, seedling length enlarged with the concentration increase of both Fe/SiO2 particles and was more pronounced with nano Fe/SiO2. The application of nano Fe/SiO2 was more effective compared with the common Fe/SiO2 in encouraging barley and maize growth. The positive impact was higher in maize than barley.