Evaluating the effects of rice husk derived nanosilica on growth, photosynthesis, and antioxidant activity in hybrid maize

Drought stress was exacerbated by changing climatic conditions and impact the plant water relations from the cellular to whole plant level, thereby reducing the crop productivity and causing economic losses in agriculture. The present study was aimed to explore the potentials of nanosilica synthesized from rice husk in improving growth and drought stress tolerance in maize. Synthesized nanosilica from rice husk has spherical morphology, amorphous structure, siloxane bonding and higher purity (99.1 %). Soil application of varied levels of synthesized nanosilica (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 mg kg −1 ) was tested with hybrid maize plants grown under irrigated and drought stress (100 and 50 % field capacity, respectively). The results of the study revealed that, drought stress has adverse effect on plant growth, biomass production and physiological parameters. However soil application of nanosilica has significantly improved growth, physiological and biochemical attributes of both irrigated and drought stressed plants. Nanosilica application at 20 mg kg −1 for irrigated and 30 mg kg −1 for drought stressed hybrid maize plants has recorded higher plant height, biomass, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, phenols, soluble proteins and considerably decreased the proline, electrolyte leakage and melondialdehyde content in hybrid maize. In contrary, higher doses of nanosilica (>30 mg kg −1 ) caused a slight reduction in plant growth and antioxidant activity under both the water regimes. Hence, we conclude that, soil application of 20 and 30 mg kg −1 nanosilica synthesized from rice husk had a positive effect on plant growth and development besides aided in mitigating drought stress. • Drought stress has negative impacts on growth and development of hybrid maize. • Soil application of nanosilica improved the growth and stress tolerance in hybrid maize considerably. • Nanosilica nutrition has boosted antioxidant activities in hybrid maize which helped in alleviating drought stress. • Higher levels of nanosilica has slightly reduced the growth and development of hybrid maize plants.