The Effects of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles on the Growth and Yield of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) from Seedling to Tillering Stage

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is one of the economically important crops in the domestic and global markets due to its versatile properties as a spice, flavoring agent and traditional medicine. Conventional ginger cultivation required a longer time frame to harvest and for soil restoration, which limited the productivity of ginger. Hydroponic systems represent a valuable solution for the problem of land availability with the benefits of shortened time frame, increased production yield and thereby increase the productivity of ginger farming. Besides that, many synthetic fertilizers have low nutrient use efficiency (NUE). Nanofertilizers with the characteristic of delivering nutrients in a controlled manner showed the potential to overcome this problem. The study aims to determine the effects of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HANP) on the growth and yield of ginger. In this study, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized. Experiments were conducted to study the effect of different concentrations of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles on the growth, yield, chlorophyll contents and photosynthetic rate of hydroponically cultivated ginger. Cocopeat was selected as the planting medium and the Hoagland solution with modified formula was used for regular fertigation. The results showed that the increment (P<0.05) in number of leaves and chlorophyll content in HANP-treated plants (200 ppm HANP) from week 9 to week 13 and the higher percentage increment in photosynthetic rate from week 11 to week 13 (20-54%) in HANP-treated plants (200-1000 ppm) as compared to the control (10%). This showed the potential use of the HANP treatments for the next developmental stage of ginger.