Effect of Trichoderma asperellum copper nanoparticles on seed germination of chickpea

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a major legume pulse crop grown in India. In the present study, the effect of Trichoderma asperellum (Tra05) mediated copper nanoparticles was checked on seed germination, root length, shoot length, seedling vigour of chickpea seeds by rolled paper towel method @10 ppm, 50 ppm, 100 ppm, 150 ppm, 200 ppm and 250 ppm concentrations. The results revealed the highest seed germination i.e. 89.33% and seedling vigor i.e.1984.01 when treated with CuNP’s @100 ppm, however as the CuNP’s concentration increased, both seed germination and seedling vigor index declined steadily reaching their lowest when treated with CuNP’s @ 250 ppm showing 77.33% seed germination and 1244.23 seedling vigor. The highest Cu++ accumulation was seen in T6 (250 ppm) i.e. 14.4 ppm while T7 (Untreated control) showed lowest Cu++ accumulation, thus proving that as the copper nanoparticle concentration goes on increasing the copper ion accumulation also increases leading to cause phytotoxicity in chickpea seedlings, respectively.