Abstract
Water salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses, and the use of saline water for the agricultural sector will incur greater demand in the coming decades. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have been used for developing numerous plant fertilizers as a smart and powerful form of material with dual action that can alleviate the adverse effects of salinity and provide the plant with more efficient nutrient forms. This study evaluated the influence of calcium phosphate NPs (CaP-NPs) as a soil fertilizer application on the production and bioactive compounds of broad bean plants under salinity stress. Results showed that salinity had deleterious effects on plant yield with 55.9% reduction compared to control. On the other hand, CaP-NPs dramatically improved plant yield by 30% compared to conventional fertilizer under salinity stress. This improvement could be attributed to significantly higher enhancement in total soluble sugars, antioxidant enzymes, proline content, and total phenolics recorded use of nano-fertilizer compared to conventional use under salt stress. Additionally, nano-fertilizer reflected better mitigatory effects on plant growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, and oxidative stress indicators (MDA and H2O2). Therefore, our results support the replacement of traditional fertilizers comprising Ca2+ or P with CaP-nano-fertilizers for higher plant productivity and sustainability under salt stress.
Highlights
Broad bean, known as broad beans (Vicia faba L.), is the fifth most crucial Fabaceae crop after pea, chickpea, common bean, and lentil [1]
calcium phosphate NPs (CaP-NPs) treatment improved growth and yield expressed by shoot fresh weight, leaf area, plant height, pods weight/plant, and weight of 1000 seeds by 25%, 46%, 26%, 25% and 20% compared to control, respectively without significant effect for other parameters
Compared with the corresponding results recorded for CaP treatments, leaf area and pod length reflected significantly better performance for CaP-NPs while the remaining growth parameters showed no significant difference between the effects applied fertilizers
Summary
Known as broad beans (Vicia faba L.), is the fifth most crucial Fabaceae crop after pea, chickpea, common bean, and lentil [1]. The importance of this leguminous crop arises from its high protein content (27–40%), carbohydrate (50–60%), minerals, and vitamins [2]. It is a good source of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), a precursor of a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease [1]. Salinity is a major abiotic stress that severely affects crop plant growth and development from seed germination to harvest [4]. As a result, it reduces 30% of global food production [5].
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