​Influence of Zn, Fe and Ag Nanoparticles on Growth, Yield Attributes and Profitability in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum mill)

Background: The ambition of nanoparticles in agriculture is to reduce the amount of spread chemicals, minimize nutrient losses in fertilization and increased yield through pest and nutrient management. The recent advances in nanotechnology and its use in the field of agriculture are astonishingly increasing therefore it is tempting to evaluate the effect of different nanoparticles on growth and yield contributing characters in tomato. Methods: A field experiment was conducted at College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar during Rabi season 2019-2020 which consisted of 13 treatments of three nanoparticles, viz. Zn, Fe and Ag at four different concentrations. Result: The results revealed that among different concentration of nanoparticles, seed treated with 800 ppm Zn NPs solution for 4 hours significantly improved the growth and yield characteristics in comparison to control. Similarly, Fe and Ag NPs also significantly influenced the growth and yield attributes but at increasing concentration showed decreasing trend for these characters. Thus, it can be inferred that employing Zn nanoparticles as seed treatment could increase in growth and yield contributing attributes at higher concentration in tomato.