PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2023-24 at the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agriculture Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), to investigate the effect of different concentrations of silicon dioxide (SiO₂) nanoparticles on growth, yield, and seedling parameters in buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.). The experiments were conducted on the IC-329456 genotype of buckwheat. To determine the optimal concentration of SiO₂ nanoparticles, 12 different concentrations (T0-T11) were evaluated using the In-between method. The impact of all treatments was assessed in terms of germination percentage, root length, shoot length, seedling length, fresh weight, dry weight, vigor index I, and vigor index II. The findings showed that seeds subjected to the T3 treatment exhibited a notable enhancement in the evaluated parameters compared to those that received no treatment. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 3 replications in the field and a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 replications in the laboratory. Seeds were treated with distilled water (100 ml) as a control, and various concentrations of SiO₂ (5 ppm, 10 ppm, 15 ppm, 20 ppm, 25 ppm, 30 ppm, 35 ppm, 40 ppm, 45 ppm, 50 ppm, 55 ppm) for a period of 14 hours each. Among the twelve treatments, SiO₂ at 15 ppm showed comparatively better outcomes in seedling parameters than untreated seeds and other treatments. A subsequent field evaluation was conducted based on the optimized concentration of SiO₂, with three replications for each treatment. The field experiment assessed the impact of SiO₂ nanoparticles on field emergence, plant height, days to first flowering, seed yield per plant, biological yield, and harvest index. The results revealed field emergence of 96.1%, plant height at 90 DAS of 41.67 cm, days to 50 % flowering at 36.6, leaf surface area of 12.12 cm², number of seeds per plant at 99.07, biological yield of 9.74 gm, and harvest index of 27.73%.In terms of seedling parameters, seeds treated with SiO₂ at 15 ppm for 14 hours showed higher levels of germination percentage (94.12%), root length (1.10 cm), shoot length (6.7 cm), seedling length (7.8 cm), fresh weight (0.8 gm), dry weight (0.13 gm), vigor index I (743.26), and vigor index II (9.0) compared to the control, which showed the lowest performance in all parameters.