Potential of Fulvic Acid and Quercetin with and without Zinc Ferrite Nanoparticles to Alleviate Salinity Stress in Maize

Abstract

Salinity stress disrupts water balance, causing dehydration, reduced nutrient uptake, and hindering essential metabolic processes, affecting plant growth and productivity. The use of quercetin (QC), fulvic acid (FA), and zinc ferrite nanoparticles (ZnFNP) can be an effective technique to overcome this issue. Quercetin, a plant flavonoid, enhances growth, protects against stress, supports seed germination, and improves nutrient uptake. Fulvic acid enhances plant nutrient absorption, promotes healthy soil, improves water retention, strengthens roots, and stress resilience. Zinc ferrite nanoparticles enhance plant growth by efficiently carrying essential nutrients, enhancing nutrient absorption, enzymatic activities, and metabolic processes, and possessing antioxidant properties, promoting sustainable crop productivity. Their combined application as an amendment against salinity still needs scientific justification. That’s why the current study used a combination of QC and FA as amendments on maize with and without ZnFNP. There were four treatments, i.e., 0, 15 μM QC, 2mg/L FA, and 15 μM QC+2mg/L FA, applied in 4 replications following a completely randomized design. Results exhibited that 15 μM QC+2mg/L FA with ZnFNP showed significant improvement in maize shoot and root fresh and dry weight (17.25%, 39.34%, 15.37%, and 26.65%) over control under salinity stress. Significant enrichment in maize chlorophyll a, b, and total chlorophyll (38.22%, 63.79%, and 51.20%) over the control under salinity stress validates the effectiveness of 15 μM QC+2mg/L FA with ZnFNP. Furthermore, improvement in N, P, and K concentration in root and shoot verified the productive functioning of 15 μM QC+2mg/L FA related to control under salinity stress. In conclusion, 15 μM QC+2mg/L FA with ZnFNP is the recommended amendment for mitigating salinity stress in maize.