Biological Nanofertilizers to Enhance Growth Potential of Strawberry Seedlings by Boosting Photosynthetic Pigments, Plant Enzymatic Antioxidants, and Nutritional Status

Abstract

Strawberry production presents special challenges due the plants’ shallow roots. The rooting stage of strawberry is a crucial period in the production of this important crop. Several amendments have been applied to support the growth and production of strawberry, particularly fertilizers, to overcome rooting problems. Therefore, the current investigation was carried out to evaluate the application of biological nanofertilizers in promoting strawberry rooting. The treatments included applying two different nanofertilizers produced biologically, nano-selenium (i.e., 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg L−1) and nano-copper (i.e., 50 and 100 mg L−1), plus a control (untreated seedlings). The rooting of strawberry seedlings was investigated by measuring the vegetative growth parameters (root weight, seedling weight, seedling length, and number of leaves), plant enzymatic antioxidants (catalase, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase activity), and chlorophyll content and its fluorescence and by evaluating the nutritional status (content of nutrients in the fruit and their uptake). The results showed that the applied nanofertilizers improved the growth, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidant content, and nutritional status of the seedlings compared to the control. A high significant increase in nutrient contents reached to more than 14-fold, 6-fold, 5-folf, and 4-fold for Cu, Mn, N, and Se contents, respectively, due to the applied nanofertilizers compared with the control. The result was related to the biological roles of both Se and CuO in activating the many plant enzymes. Comparing the Se with the CuO nanofertilizer, Cu had the strongest effect, which was shown in the higher values in all studied properties. This study showed that nanofertilizers are useful to stimulate strawberry seedling growth and most likely would also be beneficial for other horticultural crops. In general, the applied 100 ppm of biological nano-Se or nano-CuO might achieve the best growth of strawberry seedlings under growth conditions in greenhouses compared to the control. Along with the economic dimension, the ecological dimension of biological nanofertilizers still needs more investigation.

Effect of Nitrogen, Calcium and Nano Fertilizers on Growth Yield and Quality of Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.): A Review

“…Nano fertilizers represent an innovative approach to nutrient delivery, offering the potential for targeted and controlled release [41]. Several studies have demonstrated that nano fertilizers enhance nutrient uptake in strawberries, leading to more efficient use of applied nutrients [42].Research indicates that the use of nano fertilizers results in improved growth, yield, and quality of strawberries. The targeted delivery of nutrients minimizes losses, reducing the overall application rates required [43].…”

Biofortification of Vegetables under Stress Conditions Using Biological Nano-Selenium: A Mini-Review

“…This product can promote cultivated plants under different stresses such as heat stress (Seliem et al 2020), drought and heat stress (El-Saadony et al 2021), drought and heat stress (Shalaby et al 2021), salinity (El-Badri et al 2022, organic pollutants (Liu et al 2022), heavy metals stress (Zhu et al 2022), andnano-toxicity (Kamali-Andani et al 2023). Many benefits were reported for nano-Se on several agro-cultivation practices such as improving the rate of germination under salinity stress (Ghazi et al 2022), reducing the hazards of irrigation with low water quality (Saffan et al 2022), acclimatization of banana Seedlings (Shalaby et al 2022a), and enhance rooting of strawberry seedlings (El-Bialy et al 2023). Nano-Se can also improve lettuce growth, nutrient availability, and photosynthesis (Cheng et al 2023), protect melon plants from insect infestations and pathogens by enhancing their resistance to biotic stress (Kang et al 2022), enhance cowpea photosynthesis process and/or photosynthetic pigments, and antioxidant capacity (Lanza et al 2021), and improve tomato by promoting plant enzyme activities especially phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, β-1,3-glucanase, superoxide dismutase (Joshi et al 2021).…”

Nano‐selenium foliar intervention‐induced resistance of cucumber to Botrytis cinerea by activating jasmonic acid biosynthesis and regulating phenolic acid and cucurbitacin

“…It has been reported that Nano‐Se can improve photosynthetic parameters and chlorophyll content in cucumber plants, increase biomass and yield, and alleviate salt and heat stress 27 . Additionally, Nano‐Se enhances the growth potential of strawberry seedlings by promoting photosynthetic pigments, plant enzyme antioxidants and nutritional status 28 . In lemon verbena, the exogenous application of Nano‐Se has demonstrated the ability to alleviate salt stress and enhance the production of secondary metabolites under salt‐ and alkali‐stress conditions 29 .…”

“…27 Additionally, Nano-Se enhances the growth potential of strawberry seedlings by promoting photosynthetic pigments, plant enzyme antioxidants and nutritional status. 28 In lemon verbena, the exogenous application of Nano-Se has demonstrated the ability to alleviate salt stress and enhance the production of secondary metabolites under salt-and alkali-stress conditions. 29 Although there have been numerous studies on the application of Nano-Se to alleviate abiotic stress, the mechanism behind its ability to enhance resistance to biological stresses, such as fungal and bacterial infections, remains unclear, warranting further attention and exploration.…”