ارزیابی پتانسیل کیتوزان و نانو کیتوزان بر بهبود رشد و عملکرد گیاه همیشه بهار (Calendula Officinalis L.) در شرایط تنش شوری

نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسندگان

• زهره بوالحسنی
• محمد فیضیان

گروه علوم و مهندسی خاک، دانشکده کشاورزی، دانشگاه لرستان، خرم آباد، ایران

چکیده

کلیدواژه‌ها

• پرولین
• تنش شوری
• کیتوزان
• نشت یونی
• محتوی نسبی آب برگ

موضوعات

• حاصلخیزی خاک و تغذیه گیاه

عنوان مقاله [English]

Evaluation of the potential of chitosan and nanochitosan on improving the growth and yield of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) under salt stress conditions

نویسندگان [English]

• zohreh bolhassani
• Mohammad Feizian

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

• chitosan
• ion leakage
• Proline
• relative leaf water content
• salinity stress

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives

Since salinity stress is considered a limiting factor in agricultural production, research on mechanisms that can increase plant resistance is needed. At the same time, the use of biological modifiers can eliminate the effects of stress and improve plant growth. Also, considering the important position of marigold in meeting medicinal, food and industrial needs and taking into account the results of previous research, chitosan and nanochitosan were used in this study to reduce damage caused by salinity and increase marigold yield.

Methodology

In order to investigate the effect of chitosan and nano-chitosan on morphological and physiological characteristics of marigold under salt stress, an experiment was conducted in greenhouse conditions in a factorial and completely randomized design with three replications. The treatments included four salinity levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl source) and five modifier levels (0, 0.25, 0.5 g.l^-1 chitosan and 0.25 and 0.5 g.l^-1 nano-chitosan). After the plant growth period, plant height, fresh and dry weight, flower fresh and dry weight, flower number, leaf number, ion leakage, relative leaf water content, photosynthetic pigments and proline content were determined by conventional methods.

Results

The results showed that the highest fresh and dry weight of the whole plant, fresh and dry weight of flowers, number of flowers, number of leaves and height in the plant were observed in the treatment of foliar spraying of 0. g.l^-1 of nano chitosan under non-stress conditions. Also, the lowest amount of these traits was found in the stress treatment of 150 mM NaCl salt and without the use of modifiers. Salinity stress reduced the relative water content of leaves, and the application of 150 mM NaCl salt reduced the relative water content of leaves by 12.6% compared to the control treatment. Foliar spraying of modifiers caused a significant increase in relative leaf water content compared to the control treatment. Salinity stress increased ion leakage. But foliar spraying of moderators reduced ion leakage. Also, the highest amount of chlorophyll and carotenoid was observed in the foliar application of 0.5 g.l^-1 of nano-chitosan under non-stress conditions and the lowest amount of these traits was observed in the control treatment. The results of the mean comparison showed that the highest amount of proline was related to the treatment of 150 mM salt and 0.5 g.l^-1 nano-chitosan foliar spraying at the rate of 3.44 μmol.g^-1 fresh weight. The lowest concentration of proline was observed in the treatment of no stress and no application of modifier at the rate of 1.64 μmol.g^-1 of fresh weight.

Conclusion

 According to the study, increasing sodium chloride concentration negatively impacted various morphological and physiological indices of marigold. Specifically, the height, fresh and dry weight of the entire plant, fresh and dry weight of flowers, the number of flowers and leaves, relative water content of leaves, and photosynthetic pigments all decreased. Additionally, salinity stress led to an increase in proline content and ion leakage. However, the application of foliar sprays with chitosan and nanochitosan showed significant improvement in all aspects of plant growth and development. Notably, nanochitosan proved to be more effective in alleviating salinity stress compared to conventional chitosan. This suggests that nanochitosan may be a promising solution for enhancing salt stress tolerance when used with other products. The enhanced effectiveness of nanochitosan can be attributed to its smaller particle size, larger surface area, and greater permeability compared to regular chitosan, making it more efficient in mitigating salinity effects. Overall, incorporating chitosan and nanochitosan could be beneficial for improving the growth and resilience of marigold plants in saline environments, as these compounds not only help retain moisture but also minimize the adverse impacts of salinity by activating the plant's defense mechanisms.

Author Contributions

 For this research article, the individual contributions are as follows: “Conceptualization, [Author A and B]; methodology, [Author B]; software, [Author A]; validation, [Author B]; formal analysis, [Author A]; investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, [Author A] writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition [AuthorA and B]. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.” Please turn to the CRediT taxonomy for the term explanation. Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work re-ported.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available.

 For further inquiries regarding the data, please contact author’s email.

Ethical considerations

The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.