Humic Acid Hybrid Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterisation and their effect on Wheat (Triticum indicum) seed germination

Abstract

Applications of nanoscale materials in agriculture are still in infancy compared to medical and industrial sectors. For promising applications in nanoagriculture, humic acid capped with zinc oxide nanoparticle (HA-ZnO NPs) were synthesizedand investigated for wheat (Triticum indicum)seed germination.  HA-ZnO NPs were confirmed with variety of physicochemical techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The data confirmed the adsorption of humic acid on surface of ZnO nanoparticles.The HA-ZnO NPs exposure significantly increased germination by 26.3% root length (28.3mm), shoot length (38.0mm), fresh weight (0.79g) and dry weight (0.5g).This study reveals that HA-ZnO NPs application as co-fertilizer in suitable concentrations becomes more effective for improvement of seed germination and seedling growth of wheat plant.  The germination response varies with concentration. To the best of our knowledge, this study first time reports the humic acid hybrid ZnONPs on germination of wheat.