The effect of nano fertilizers on wheat vegetative characters

Abstract

The effect of nano fertilizers on Wheat vegetative characters Thanawan Buacharoen1, Yafei Guo1, Eugenia Valsami-Jones1*, and Sami Ullah1 *Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed. 1School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Wheat is the primary staple cereal in the world. It was the highest cultivation in 2018. According to the British Survey of Fertilizer Practice, total nitrogen use in Great Britain was reduced between 2021 and 2022. At the same time, the total phosphate did not change. Meanwhile, the usage of the total potash has increased compared to last year.  Conventional fertilizer, which consists of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium nutrients, will release Greenhouse gas emissions. The other option to solve this problem is the nano fertilizer. Plants can easily absorb a tiny particle of nano fertilizer, reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the air. Therefore, this study focused on nano fertilizers' effect on plant growth.  The first set of 30-day-old wheat plants was treated with amorphous calcium phosphate (nano - ACP), a potassium-bearing variant of the ACP (nano ACP - NPK) and a urea and potassium-bearing variant of the ACP (nano - UNPK). Moreover, three conventional fertilizers, which have the same nutrient quantity as same as nano fertilizers, were applied to the second set of plants to be a positive control. On the other hand, blank treatment was used to be a negative control. After harvesting the wheat plants, the shoot length and fresh weight were measured. Also, the ammonium concentration in the soil was examined with the colorimetric method. Maximum root weight was found in the wheat treated with nano–ACP (Average± SD. = 0.39±0.20). The nano ACP - NPK gave the highest value of shoot weight (Average ± SD. = 0.9 ± 0.10), number of seeds (84 seeds) and shoot length (Average ±SD.= 63.33 ± 4.29). However, the maximum ammonium concentration was found in the soil treated with nano ACP. All treatments' seed weight and shoot length differ at the P – value of less than 0.5. Our finding suggests that the nano fertilizers had enhanced vegetative characteristics compared with the conventional fertilizers. Key word; amorphous calcium phosphate (nano - ACP), potassium-bearing variant of the ACP (nano ACP - NPK) and urea and potassium-bearing variant of the ACP (nano - UNPK)