Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. sp3 (2025): Advances in Plant Health Improvement for Sustainable Agriculture

Zinc-Selenium nanocomposite enhances drought tolerance in pearl millet by improving photosynthesis

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.8600
Submitted
31 March 2025
Published
26-07-2025

Abstract

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) is grown in arid and semi-arid regions of the world as a staple food crop owing to its better adaptability to different climatic conditions and nutrition. Due to climate change, occurrence of drought is becoming more frequent and in pearl millet, this drought stress at critical growth stages significantly reduces the yield. This generates the need to produce an appropriate technology for enhancing drought tolerance. Research shows that nanotechnology can provide an effective solution in the form of nanoparticle application. Previous studies have shown that foliar application of zinc-selenium quantum dot in maize under drought stress has shown to significantly enhance its drought tolerance. The pot culture experiment was conducted by adopting Factorial Completely Randomized Design (FCRD) design to evaluate the effect of zinc-selenium nanocomposite foliar application in mitigating the ill effects of drought stress in pearl millet at its peak vegetative stage. The zinc-selenium (Zn-Se) nanocomposite was applied at different doses which included 0 mg L-1 (water sprayed) as control, 5 mg L-1, 10 mg L-1, 15 mg L-1 and 20 mg L-1. Foliar application significantly reduced the impact of drought stress on growth and physiology of plant. It enhanced photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, Fv/Fm ratio, plant height and plant girth compared to control plants. Also it reduces leaf temperature and F0 values in sprayed plants as compared to control. The study indicates that zinc-selenium nanocomposite at 20 mg L-1 was most effective in mitigating drought stress. Hence it can be concluded that foliar application of zinc-selenium nanocomposite at 20 mg L-1 can effectively enhance drought tolerance by stabilizing the photosynthesis associated traits thereby reducing the effect of drought stress in pearl millet at its peak vegetative stage.

References

  1. 1. Ahmed S, Khan MT, Abbasi A, Haq IU, Hina A, Mohiuddin M, et al. Characterizing stomatal attributes and photosynthetic induction in relation to biochemical changes in Coriandrum sativum L. by foliar-applied zinc oxide nanoparticles under drought conditions. Front Plant Sci. 2023;13:1079283. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1079283
  2. 2. Dai A. Increasing drought under global warming in observations and models. Nature Clim Change. 2013;3(1):52-8. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071372
  3. 3. Zeeshan M, Wang X, Salam A, Wu H, Li S, Zhu S, et al. Selenium nanoparticles boost the drought stress response of soybean by enhancing pigment accumulation, oxidative stress management and ultrastructural integrity. Agronomy. 2024 ;14(7):1372. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071372
  4. 4. Jabeen Z, Mahmood B, Rehman S, Butt AM, Hussain N. Biodegradable glycine betaine encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles induce the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes to improve drought tolerance in maize. S Afr J Bot. 2024;171:571-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2024.06.012
  5. 5. Younes NA, El-Sherbiny M, Alkharpotly AA, Sayed OA, Dawood AFA, Hossain MA, et al. Rice-husks synthesized-silica nanoparticles modulate silicon content, ionic homeostasis and antioxidants defense under limited irrigation regime in eggplants. Plant Stress. 2024 ;11:100330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stress.2023.100330
  6. 6. Mubashir A, Nisa Z un, Shah AA, Kiran M, Hussain I, Ali N, et al. Effect of foliar application of nano-nutrients solution on growth and biochemical attributes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) under drought stress. Front Plant Sci. 2023;13:1066790. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1066790
  7. 7. Satyavathi CT, Ambawat S, Khandelwal V, Srivastava RK. Pearl millet: A climate-resilient nutricereal for mitigating hidden hunger and provide nutritional security. Front Plant Sci. 2021;12:659938. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.659938
  8. 8. Hassan ZM, Sebola NA, Mabelebele M. The nutritional use of millet grain for food and feed: a review. Agric & Food Secur. 2021;10(1):16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-020-00282-6
  9. 9. Srivastava RK, Yadav OP, Kaliamoorthy S, Gupta SK, Serba DD, Choudhary S, et al. Breeding drought-tolerant pearl millet using conventional and genomic approaches: Achievements and prospects. Front Plant Sci. 2022;13:781524. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.781524
  10. 10. Mahalakshmi V, Bidinger FR, Raju DS. Effect of timing of water deficit on pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum). Field Crops Res. 1987;15(3-4):327-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-4290(87)90020-7
  11. 11. Choudhury S, Moulick D, Ghosh D, Soliman M, Alkhedaide A, Gaber A, et al. Drought-induced oxidative stress in pearl millet (Cenchrus americanus L.) at seedling stage: Survival mechanisms through alteration of morphophysiological and antioxidants activity. Life. 2022;12(8):1171. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12081171
  12. 12. Djanaguiraman M, Priyanka AS, Haripriya S, Kalarani MK, Umapathi M. Nanoselenium improves drought tolerance of sorghum via reduced transpiration rate and osmolytic accumulation. S Afr J Bot. 2024;172:93-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2024.07.012
  13. 13. Zhou XQ, Hayat Z, Zhang DD, Li MY, Hu S, Wu Q, et al. Zinc oxide nanoparticles: Synthesis, characterization, modification and applications in food and agriculture. Processes. 2023;11(4):1193. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11041193
  14. 14. Djanaguiraman M, Nair R, Giraldo JP, Prasad PVV. Cerium oxide nanoparticles decrease drought-induced oxidative damage in sorghum leading to higher photosynthesis and grain yield. ACS Omega. 2018;3(10):14406-16. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.8b01894
  15. 15. Semida WM, Abdelkhalik A, Mohamed GamalF, Abd El-Mageed TA, Abd El-Mageed SA, Rady MM, et al. Foliar Application of zinc oxide nanoparticles promotes drought stress tolerance in egg plant (Solanum melongena L.). Plants. 2021;10(2):421. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10020421
  16. 16. Ishtiaq M, Mazhar MW, Maqbool M, Hussain T, Hussain SA, Casini R, et al. Seed priming with the selenium nanoparticles maintains the redox status in the water stressed tomato plants by modulating the antioxidant defense enzymes. Plants. 2023;12(7):1556. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12071556
  17. 17. Hirapara KM, Gajera HP, Hirpara DG, Savaliya DD. Deciphering metabolomic responses and signalling pathways for augmented osmotic stress tolerance under nanosilicon influence in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). S Afr J Bot. 2024;171:768–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2024.06.046
  18. 18. Boora R, Rani N, Kumari S, Yashveer S, Kumari N, Grewal S. Efficacious role of silica nanoparticles in improving growth and yield of wheat under drought stress through stress-gene upregulation. Plant Nano Biol. 2023;6:100051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plana.2023.100051
  19. 19. Chandrashekhar HK, Singh G, Kaniyassery A, Ashok TS, Nayak R, Murali TS, et al. Synthesis and characterization of copper oxide nanoparticles and its influence on pearl millet (Pennisetum gluacum L.) under drought conditions. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Theoretical and Applied Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (TANN 2023), Ottawa, Canada; 1–3 June 2023. Avestia Publishing; 2023.2023. https://doi.org/10.11159/tann23.120
  20. 20. Ullah Z, Haq SIU, Ullah A, Asghar MA, Seleiman MF, Saleem K, et al. Effect of green synthesized silver nanoparticles on growth and physiological responses of pearl millet under salinity stress. Environ Dev Sustain. 2024;27(1):625-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05453-0
  21. 21. Khan I, Awan SA, Rizwan M, Akram MA, Zia-ur-Rehman M, Wang X, et al. Physiological and transcriptome analyses demonstrate the silver nanoparticles mediated alleviation of salt stress in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L). Environ Pollut. 2023;318:120863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120863
  22. 22. Kanna VK, Djanaguiraman M, Senthil A, Moorthy PS, Iyanar K, Veerappan A. Improvement of maize drought tolerance by foliar application of zinc selenide quantum dots. Front Plant Sci. 2024;15:1478654. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1478654
  23. 23. Djanaguiraman M, Priyanka AS, Haripriya S, Kalarani MK, Umapathi M. Nanoselenium improves drought tolerance of sorghum via reduced transpiration rate and osmolytic accumulation. S Afr J Bot. 2024;172:93-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2024.07.012
  24. 24. Inam A, Javad S, Naseer I, Alam P, Almutairi ZM, Faizan M, et al. Efficacy of chitosan loaded zinc oxide nanoparticles in alleviating the drastic effects of drought from corn crop. Plant Stress. 2024;14:100617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stress.2024.100617
  25. 25. Agurla S, Gahir S, Munemasa S, Murata Y, Raghavendra AS. Mechanism of stomatal closure in plants exposed to drought and cold stress. In: Iwaya-Inoue M, Sakurai M, Uemura M, editors. Survival strategies in extreme cold and desiccation. Singapore: Springer Singapore; 2018. p. 215-32. (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology; vol. 1081). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1244-1_12
  26. 26. M D, K.S VB, R R, P J. Sorghum drought tolerance is enhanced by cerium oxide nanoparticles via stomatal regulation and osmolyte accumulation. Plant Physiol Biochem. 2024;212:108733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.108733
  27. 27. Faisal M, Faizan M, Alatar AA. Metallic allies in drought resilience: Unveiling the influence of silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles on enhancing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) resistance through oxidative stress regulation. Plant Physiol Biochem. 2024;212:108722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.108722
  28. 28. Martins BLR, Ferreira KN, Rocha JLA, Araujo RHCR, Lopes G, Santos LCD, et al. Nano ZnO and bioinoculants mitigate effects of deficit irrigation on nutritional quality of green peppers. Horticulturae. 2024;10(9):969. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10090969
  29. 29. Lv Y, Gu L, Man R, Liu X, Xu J. Response of stomatal conductance, transpiration and photosynthesis to light and CO2 for rice leaves with different appearance days. Front Plant Sci. 2024;15:1397948. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1397948
  30. 30. Liu A, Xiao W, Lai W, Wang J, Li X, Yu H, et al. Potential application of selenium and copper nanoparticles in improving growth, quality and physiological characteristics of strawberry under drought stress. Agriculture. 2024;14(7):1172. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14071172
  31. 31. Genty B, Briantais JM, Baker NR. The relationship between the quantum yield of photosynthetic electron transport and quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1989;990(1):87-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4165(89)80016-9
  32. 32. Hu J, Zhao X, Gu L, Liu P, Zhao B, Zhang J, et al. The effects of high temperature, drought and their combined stresses on the photosynthesis and senescence of summer maize. Agric Water Manag. 2023;289:108525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108525
  33. 33. Hasanuzzaman M, Raihan MdRH, Siddika A, Bardhan K, Hosen MdS, Prasad PVV. Selenium and its nanoparticles modulate the metabolism of reactive oxygen species and morpho-physiology of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to combat oxidative stress under water deficit conditions. BMC Plant Biol. 2024;24(1):578. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-024-05282-3
  34. 34. Rukhsar-Ul-Haq, Kausar A, Hussain S, Javed T, Zafar S, Anwar S, et al. Zinc oxide nanoparticles as potential hallmarks for enhancing drought stress tolerance in wheat seedlings. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. 2023;195:341-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.01.014

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.