Morphological and Biochemical Responses of Gerbera to Application of Silica Nanoparticles and Calcium Chelate under Hydroponic State

Daryush Talei | Seyed Jalal Tabatabaei | Tahereh Tofighi Alikhani | Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand | Ahmad Khalighi

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URL :   http://research.shahed.ac.ir/WSR/WebPages/Report/PaperView.aspx?PaperID=148277
Date :  2020/12/23
Publish in :    Journal of Ornamental Plants


Keywords :Chlorophyll index, Ionic leakage, Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase enzyme, Stem bending

Abstract :

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the response of physicochemical properties of gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii L.) to silica nanoparticles (nanoparticle-SiO2) and calcium chelate (Ca-Chelate) in nutrient solutions. A factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with two factors was conducted in four replicates. The first factor the concentration of nanoparticle-SiO2 in nutrient solutions with four levels (0, 20, 40, 80 mg L-1), and the second factor was the concentration of Ca-chelate in the nutrient solution with four levels (0, 60, 120 and 240 mg L-1). Flower diameter, peduncle length, leaf area, fresh and dry weights of root, leaf and flower, stem bending, leaf ionic leakage, chlorophyll index, maximum efficiency of Photosystem II (Fv/Fm), percentages of cellulose, hemicellulose, and holocellulose in stem, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity in leaves were measured. According to the results, in comparison to the control, application of 240 mg L-1 Ca-chelate together with 80 mg L-1 nanoparticle-SiO2, resulted in 1.5 times less stem bending and decreased leaf ionic leakage by 28. The highest activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase in leaves was observed in the treatment with 60 mg L-1 Ca-chelate (2.91 unit mg fresh leaves-1). The best treatment in terms of the chlorophyll index, leaf area, percentages of cellulose and the maximum efficiency of Photosystem II (Fv/Fm) was the treatment with 120 mg L-1 Ca-chelate and 80 mg L-1 nanoparticle-SiO2. Therefore, application of 40 mg L-1 nanoparticle-SiO2 and 60 mg L-1 Ca-chelate in the hydroponic nutrition solution can be suggested for gerbera plants.