Mitigation of drought stress in potato cultivars in vitro culture by application of Silicon Nano-particles.

Nano Silicon exerts advantageous impacts on several crops, particularly under biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Nano Silicon may influence biochemical, physiological, and photosynthetic processes, hence mitigating drought stress. The impact of nano Si on potato plants during drought stress remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the impact of nano Si application on various growth and microtuber characteristics. The potential of growth and microtubrization of four potato cultivars “Spunta (SP.), Lady Rosetta (LD.), Diamant (D.), and Agria (A.)” treated with two concentrations of nano-silicon Si-NPs (50 and 100 mg L-l) exposed to drought stress, induced by two concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG 40 and 80 g L-1) were studied. Treatment that consisted of PEG application with the absence of nano Si application showed a decline in vegetative measurements, and a clear weakness in growth, when comparing the results to the control treatment. While the presence of both concentrations of Si-NPs in the culture media reduced the negative effect of PEG due to drought stress that the plants were exposed to, Under PEG -induced water stress, cv. Diamant was the highest value for most vegetative and microtubers parameters except survival% and biomass%, in all treatments. It can be recommended that the addition of Si-NPs alleviates the effects of drought stress simulated with PEG in vitro for all growth and microtubers parameters and it must be evaluated under field conditions.