Effects Of Zinc Oxide Nano-Particles And Farm Manure On Wheat Yield Grown On Salt Affected Soil Conditions

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18091248

Abstract

Soils contaminated with salt are known to cause land degradation and large abiotic stress to crops. The study attempted to look at the effect of using farm manure (FM) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) on the yield of wheat (Triticum astivum L.) in salty soil. The experiment was conducted in the Faisalabad (UAF) Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences (ISES) warehouse. The number of replications was three with a completely randomized design (CRD) and nine treatments i.e., T0 (control without any application), T1 (ZnO-NP 25%), T2 (ZnO NP 25% + 25g FM/pot), T3 (ZnO-NP 50%), T4 (ZnO-NP 50% + 25g FM/pot), T5 (ZnO NP 75%), T6 (ZnO-NP 75% + 2 Growth, physiological properties and yield of wheat and post-harvest soil analysis were carried out. Following the experiment, findings showed that FM and Zn-NPs application were significantly better in enhancing growth attributes. A 100% ZnO-NP concentration containing 25gm FM (T8) resulted in the highest amount of chlorophyll content and number of tillers i.e. 40 and 6.5 percentage increase over control respectively. T6 and T8 were optimal in the number of spikes (47% increase) and total biomass production in plants (45% increase), respectively. It was also determined that Zn-NPs used together with FM led to improved crop growth, yield and physiology besides improving the soil health of salt-affected soil. These amendments could, therefore, be suggested as a sustainable measure to boost the production of wheat in salt-contaminated soils to ensure sustainable production of the food crop.