The application of biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles enhances the morphological and physiological indices of serrano pepper plants

This research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the biosynthesized spherical zinc oxide nanoparticles (BZnONPs) applications on morphological and physiological indices of serrano pepper plants cv. ‘Chiser-522’. The treatments applied by foliar spray every 15 days from 20 days after transplantation consisted of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 ppm of BZnONPs and control (distilled water). A completely randomized design was used with six treatments and fifteen replicas per treatment. Morphological and physiological characteristics such as crop growth rate (CGR), net assimilation rate (NAR), leaf area index (LAI), photosynthetic pigments, and phytochemical compounds were evaluated. The results indicated that the plants treated with 30 and 40 ppm of BZnONPs had higher height, thicker stems, longer roots, and higher CGR, NAR, and LAI than control. Their amounts of photosynthetic pigments and antioxidant compounds were also increased compared to those of the other treatments. Therefore, we conclude that BZnONPs are promising technology that significantly influences chili pepper cultivation's physiological and morphological development at low-level exposures.