Water deficit is a significant environmental stress that has a negative impact on plant growth and yield. In this research, the positive significance of kaolin and SiO2 nanoparticles in moderating the detrimental effects of water deficit on maize plant growth and yield is investigated. The foliar application of kaolin (3 and 6%) and SiO2 NPs (1.5 and 3 mM) solutions increased the growth and yield variables of maize plants grown under normal conditions (100% available water) and drought stress conditions (80 and 60% available water (AW)). In addition, plants treated with SiO2 NPs (3 mM) demonstrated increased levels of important osmolytes, such as proline and phenol, and maintained more of their photosynthetic pigments (net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), and transpiration rate (E)) than with other applied treatments under either stress or non-stress conditions. Furthermore, the exogenous foliar application of kaolin and SiO2 NPs also reduced the amounts of hydroxyl radicals (OH), superoxide anions (O2), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and lipid peroxidation in maize plants experiencing a water deficit. In contrast, the treatments led to an increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione peroxidase (GR), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Overall, our findings indicate the beneficial impact of the application of kaolin and silicon NPs, particularly the impact of SiO2 NPs (3 mM) on managing the negative, harmful impacts of soil water deficit stress in maize plants.
Keywords: ROS indicator and mineral content; drought; enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants; yield.