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Silicon Nanoparticles Mediated Increase in Glandular Trichomes and Regulation of Photosynthetic and Quality Attributes in Mentha piperita L.

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Abstract

Interest in the use of the nanoparticles as plant growth elicitors mushroomed within the last decade and the field is quite intriguing to meet the growing needs of the burgeoning population. Peppermint is a plant of considerable importance to the traditional as well as modern medical world primarily because of its essential oil (EO). In view of the beneficial effects of silicon (Si) in plants and the substantial pharmaceutical importance of peppermint, the present study was designed to investigate the influence of silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) on some of the photosynthetic and yield parameters of the plant as the nanoparticles are edged over the normal elemental forms due to some unique physico-chemical characteristics. A simple randomized experiment was designed and the treatments included: foliar spray of de-ionized water only (control), and foliar spray of SiNPs with 50, 100, 150, and 200 mg L−1. Lower concentrations of SiNPs (50 and 100 mg L−1) proved significant (P ≤ 0.05) for most of the parameters studied and increased the peltate glandular trichome density and diameter significantly. An increase of 11.5% was reported in chlorophyll content while chlorophyll fluorescence increased by 6.8%, net photosynthetic rate by 21.1% and total phenol content by 11.9% at 150 days after plantation (DAP). EO content exhibited an increase of 26.5%. While menthol content was increased by 8.85%, menthone and menthyl-acetate contents were decreased by 2.2% and 10%, respectively at 150 DAP.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are highly grateful to Department of Chemical Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh for providing SiNPs. Thanks are also due to CIMAP, Lucknow, India for providing authentic planting material to carry out experimental studies and University Sophisticated Instrumentation Facility (USIF), Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India for the conduction of the SEM analysis of samples.

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  1. Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    Bilal Ahmad, M. Masroor A. Khan, Hassan Jaleel, Asfia Shabbir & Yawar Sadiq

  2. Department of Botany, Women’s College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    Moin Uddin

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344_2019_9986_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

Supplementary material 1—Scanning Electron Microscopic image of silicon nanoparticles (a) Elemental analysis (b) Elemental analysis of SiNPs showing weight % (37.88%) and atomic % (25.78%) of silicon in the nanomaterial used. (JPEG 622 kb)

344_2019_9986_MOESM2_ESM.jpg

Supplementary material 2—Scanning Electron Microscopic image of control plant (a) and best treatment (SiNP-100) (b) showing the peltate glandular trichomes. (JPEG 684 kb)

344_2019_9986_MOESM3_ESM.jpg

Supplementary material 3—Influence of foliar applied silicon nanoparticles on the performance of peppermint. (JPEG 307 kb)

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Ahmad, B., Khan, M.M.A., Jaleel, H. et al. Silicon Nanoparticles Mediated Increase in Glandular Trichomes and Regulation of Photosynthetic and Quality Attributes in Mentha piperita L.. J Plant Growth Regul 39, 346–357 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-019-09986-x

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