Mitigation of the effect of drought on growth and yield of pomegranates by foliar spraying of different sizes of selenium nanoparticles.

Abstract

Trees treated with Se-NPs displayed higher levels of photosynthetic pigments, a better nutrient status, better physical (especially fruit cracking) and chemical parameters, a higher phenolic content, and higher concentrations of osmolytes, antioxidant enzymes and abscisic acid as compared to untreated trees under drought stress. Foliar spraying of 10 and 50 nm Se-NPs alleviated many of the deleterious effects of drought in pomegranate leaves and fruits and this was achieved by reducing stress-induced lipid peroxidation and H2 O2 content through enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes. Furthermore, the 10 nm Se-NPs treatment produced more noticeable effects than the treatment with 50 nm Se-NPs.