Effects of pellet fertilizer prepared from Azolla and zinc oxide nanoparticles on rice growth and yield

Abstract

Importance of the work: The combination of zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) and
Azolla as fertilizer could reduce chemical fertilizer use and alleviate zinc deficiency.
Objectives: To evaluate the impact of pellet fertilizers containing nZnO and dried Azolla
on Pathum Thani 1 rice growth and yield.
Materials and Methods: A one-factor completely randomized design was used. The weight
contents of Azolla and nZnO in pellet fertilizer were 60.96% and 0.04%, 60.92% and 0.08%
and 60.88% and 0.12%, respectively. The performance was evaluated of the different pellet
fertilizers on rice growth, yield and yield components and on the concentration of zinc in
plant organs.
Results: The pellet fertilizer significantly improved the SPAD index of Pathum Thani 1 rice,
compared to the control. This improvement was not significantly different from the use
of urea fertilizer. Similar to urea fertilizer, the pellet fertilizer significantly enhanced plant
height, the number of tillers per hill, the number of panicles and the number of grains
per panicle. However, the treatments did not significantly affect the weight of paddy and
brown rice. The inclusion of nZnO led to a significant increase in zinc accumulation in the
rice roots, leaves and grains. There was greater zinc accumulation in the treatments with
increasing nZnO dosages.
Main finding: The Azolla-nZnO pellet fertilizer effectively improved rice growth and
increased the zinc content in grains. This eco-friendly pellet fertilizer could be used to
improve zinc nutrition in rice-consuming regions. Further study is required to improve its
performance in promoting grain weight.