Improving growth performance of rice cultivars IR64 and Mentik Wangi in drought stress with applying nano Zn

Abstract

Increasing temperatures due to climate change caused irregular rainfall in some regions. Changes in rainfall initiate drought to increase every year and negatively impact vital human activities, including agricultural sectors. Drought stress is becoming increasingly important in agriculture because it affects changes in physiological function and leads to a severe decline in crop production. Nano Zn is one of the solutions for drought stress which has a role in enzyme activation, protein synthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism. This study aims to determine the effect of applying nano Zn on rice growth performance in drought stress conditions. The method used was a non-factorial Completely Randomized Design with analysis of variance followed by DMRT at 5% level. The levels of Zn concentration were 0; 0.5; 1; 1.5; 2 ppm Zn. Two varieties were used, ‘IR 64’ as a hybrid cultivar and ‘Mentik Wangi’ as a local cultivar in Indonesia. The variables observed were plant height (cm), number of tillers, number of leaves, biomass weight (g), and root dry weight (g). The result showed that applying nano Zn can increase rice growth due to drought stress on the various variables. The higher the nano Zn dosage, the higher plant height, number of tillers, number of leaves, biomass, and root dry weight by 3-6 %, 2-33 %, 6-23 %, 8-28 %, and 3-34 % respectively compared without Zn. These results can be considered a solution for environmental conditions affected by drought stress by paying attention to Zn concentration level.