Nano-treatment driven improvements in winter wheat productivity and grain quality in arid agroecosystems
Annotatsiya
Efficient nutrient management remains a critical challenge in winter wheat (WW) production, underscoring the need for sustainable alternatives. Nano treatments (NTs) have emerged as promising technology to enhance WW productivity, however, limited knowledge exists regarding their optimal application rates under field conditions. This open-field experiment was conducted during 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 seasons to evaluate the effectiveness of varying doses of NTs (NT1-100 mL ha −1 , NT2 200 mL ha −1 , NT3 300 mL ha −1 and NT4 400 mL ha −1 ) under the recommended rates of conventional fertilizers (180:120:90 of NPK, respectively). The collected data showed that the control treatment (CK, 0 mL ha −1 ) produced the lowest average yield (5.15 Mg ha −1 ), while NTs showed significant improvements, reaching 5.93 Mg ha −1 , 6.03 Mg ha −1 , and 6.23 Mg ha −1 in NT1, NT2 and NT4, respectively. The highest yield was achieved at NT3 with an overall grain yield of 6.53 Mg ha −1 . These results demonstrate dose-responsive characteristics of WW against NTs, whereas yield gains becoming less pronounced at NT4 (400 mL ha −1 ). The highest mean values in biochemical traits such as proline content, phenol content, chlorophyll content and reducing sugar content generally recorded at NT4. These achievements were mainly driven by improved nutrient uptake and assimilation in the crop through the nano pathway. The study concluded that the application of NTs in WW production at the optimal doses is crucial for maximizing crop potential, while their long-term impacts may pave the way toward more efficient and environmentally sustainable crop production.