Investigating the Morpho-physiological and Biochemical Characteristics of Bell Peppers under Drought Stress and Carbon Nanoparticle Foliar Application in Greenhouse Conditions

Ahmadi, Seyede Zahra; Zahedi, Bahman; Ghorbanpour, Mansour; Mumivand, Hassan

doi:10.22059/ijhst.2024.376000.839

Investigating the Morpho-physiological and Biochemical Characteristics of Bell Peppers under Drought Stress and Carbon Nanoparticle Foliar Application in Greenhouse Conditions

Document Type : Research paper

Authors

Seyede Zahra Ahmadi ¹

Bahman Zahedi ¹

Mansour Ghorbanpour ²

Hassan Mumivand ¹

¹ Department of Horticulture Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

² Department of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran

10.22059/ijhst.2024.376000.839

Abstract

Dehydration stress is the most significant abiotic factor affecting plant growth and development. In recent years, the use of engineered nanomaterials has emerged as a promising solution to mitigate the destructive effects of drought stress on plants. This study, conducted in 2021, aimed to investigate the impact of carbon nanoparticles on the properties of bell peppers under drought stress in greenhouse conditions. A completely randomized design with three replications was used. The first factor was irrigation levels, based on field capacity (FC), with three treatments: 100% FC, 75% FC, and 50% FC. The second factor involved the application of carbon nanoparticles at ten levels: no nanoparticles, fullerene (100, 200, 1000 mg L-1), graphene (100, 200, 1000 mg L-1), and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (100, 200, 1000 mg L-1). The results indicated that foliar application of carbon nanoparticles alleviated the effects of water-deficit stress on root dry weight but did not significantly reduce the negative impact on fruit yield. However, the application of 200 mg L-1 of nanographene and 1000 mg L-1 of multi-walled carbon nanotubes under 100% FC irrigation improved fruit production compared to the absence of nanoparticles at the same irrigation level. Additionally, the use of multiwalled carbon nanotubes enhanced the activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes. However, the effect of nanoparticles on enzyme
activity varied across different irrigation levels.

Keywords

Antioxidant enzymes

Carbon nanoparticles

Carboxylation efficiency

Gas exchange

Membrane stability