Evaluation of the effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on different species of Festuca under salinity stress

Evaluation of the effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on different species of Festuca under salinity stress

Salinity stress is becoming a serious problem, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Zinc is essential for plant growth but is toxic to plants in high concentrations. This study was performed to investigate the effects of salinity stress and zinc oxide nanoparticles on germination of Festuca species as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with 3 replications in Aburaihan Campus, University of Tehran. Salinity stress was applied at the levels of (0, 100, 150, 200 mM) and zinc oxide nanoparticles at the levels of (0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02 mg / L). The results of analysis of variance revealed salinity × zinc oxide nanoparticles for shootlet fresh weight, salinity × species for germination percentage, germination rate, shootlet fresh weight and shootlet dry weight, zinc oxide nanoparticle × species for shootlet fresh weight, shootlet dry weight, salinity × zinc oxide nanoparticles × species for shootlet fresh weight and dry shootlet weight were significant at 1% probability level. The results of mean comparison showed that the highest mean was observed in rubra species at the salinity control condition for germination percentage, germination rate, shootlet fresh weight and shootlet dry weight. Mean comparison of zinc oxide nanoparticles × species showed the highest mean in rubra species were at the level of 0.01 and 0.02 mg/l for germination percentage, germination rate, shootlet fresh weight, and shootlet dry weight.