The Influence of nano-TiO2 and Nano-Silica Particles Effects on Yield and Morphological Traits of Sunflower

Abstract Present study is performed to evaluate the effects of foliar application of salicylic acid, glycine betaine, ascorbic acid, nano-silica and nano titanium dioxide on yield and yield component of sunflower. Chlorophyll content, leaf length, leaf width, days to 50 % flowering, day to maturity, plant height, husk percentage, number of seeds per head, head number per plant, percentage of empty achenes, 1000-seed weight, kernel weight, grain length, straw yield, harvest index, grain yield and oil percent were measured. Results showed that the first two principal components accounted 49 % and 19 %, respectively of sums of squares of the TT interaction and were used to create a two-dimensional treatment by trait (TT) biplot. The vertex treatments in polygon of TT biplot were ascorbic acid, glycine betaine, nano-TiO2 and control which Nano-Ti2 treatment indicated high performance in chlorophyll content, day to maturity, number of seeds per head, head number per plant, kernel weight, grain length, straw yield, harvest index, grain yield and oil percent. The identification of ideal treatment, the treatment that is most favorable treatment among all treatments, showed that the nano-TiO2 might be used in selecting superior traits and it can be considered as the candidate treatment. Treatments suitable for obtaining of high seed yield were identified in the vector-view function of TT biplot and displayed nano-silica and nano titanium dioxide as the best treatments suitable for obtaining of high seed yield. In short, nano-fertilizer could increase crop yields and improve the fertilizer efficiency.