Pre and postharvest characteristics of Dahlia pinnata var. pinnata, cav. As affected by SiO2 and CaCO3 nanoparticles under two different planting dates

Mahmoud M Kasem; Mohaned M Abd El-Baset; Ahmed A Helaly; El-Sayed A El-Boraie; Mashael Daghash Alqahtani; Abdulrahman Alhashimi; Abdelghafar M Abu-Elsaoud; Amr Elkelish; Ahmed G Mancy; Abdulrahman Alhumaid; Mostafa F El-Banna

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17292

Pre and postharvest characteristics of Dahlia pinnata var. pinnata, cav. As affected by SiO₂ and CaCO₃ nanoparticles under two different planting dates

Heliyon. 2023 Jun 14;9(6):e17292. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17292. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Affiliations

¹ Vegetable and Floriculture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
² Vegetable and Floriculture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damietta University, New Damietta 34517, Egypt.
³ Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O.BOX 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh 11623, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
⁷ Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City 11884, Cairo, Egypt.
⁸ Department of Plant Production and Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Burydah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.

Abstract

Agriculture faces many challenges because of climate changes. The nutrients present in nano-sized form improve plant productivity, especially when used at the appropriate planting time. Field experiments were conducted as a factorial experiment for evaluating two planting dates (20th September and 20th October), foliar application with nanoparticles (NPs) including silica nanoparticles (SiO₂-NPs) at 1.5 and 3 mM, calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CaCO₃-NPs) at 5 and 10 mM and distilled water (control) on pre- and post-harvest characteristics of Dahlia pinnata var. pinnata Cav. The results indicate that the interactions during the late planting time (20th October) and exogenous applications of SiO₂-NPs at 1.5 mM or CaCO₃-NPs at 10 mM have improved plant growth including plant height, stem diameter, fresh and dry weights of plant, leaf area, inflorescence diameter, inflorescence stalk length, branches number, tuber numbers, inflorescences number on the plant, and the vase life. At the same time, insignificant differences appeared in the interaction during the planting dates and SiO₂ or CaCO₃ -NPs concentrations on inflorescence stalk diameter, total soluble solids, membrane stability index, maximum increase in fresh weight (FW), and Si and Ca contents. In addition, all exogenous applications of NPs at the late planting time promoted the plant growth characteristics like lignin %, cellulose %, inflorescence water content, change in FW, and total water uptake. Moreover, the controls through the two planting dates recorded the maximum change in water uptake and water loss values. In short, it can be recommended to use SiO₂-NPs at 1.5 mM or CaCO₃-NPs at 10 mM as a foliar application at the late planting time (20th October) for obtaining the optimum quantitative and qualitative parameters of D. pinnata.