Morphological and biochemical traits of Solanum Lycopersicum underzinc oxide nanoparticles in a salinity challenged environment

Abstract Plant tolerance, a significant parameter against saline conditions has become challenging and a hallmark for agriculture crops. There is an urgent need to incorporate green nanostructure approaches to cope with stress conditions to promote plant growth. Nanotechnology has arisen as an auspicious tool to alleviate the detrimental effects of salt stress(NaCl) in Solanum Lycopersicum via ZnO (NPs). The focal drive of this study was to prepare bioengineered zinc oxide Nanoparticles (NPs), and their characterization and evaluate different parameters in S. Lycopersicum in salinity stress conditions. Administering 50 ppm of ZnO-NPs enhanced tomato morphological characteristics; the treatments with the highest growth were the control group and 50 ppm ZnO NP treatments. Salt stress significantly reduced growth, whereas ZnO-NPs somewhat offset their effects. The biochemical data obtained showed a reduction in total proline content of 21%, 17%, and 19% after the application of nano-ZnO suspension at concentrations of control, 50 and 100 mg/L, respectively. The control exhibits a greater proline content due to alleviated stress status at ZnO treatments. In comparison to non-treated tomato plants, the MDA concentration in the roots considerably decreased in stress-free and salt-stressed, the recorded percentages were 61–93% and 12–38%, respectively. It shows the trend in MDA control content > MDA content in ZnO-treated plants. The use of ZnO-NPs primed with ZnO NPs100 ppm promoted a 113.1% increase in ascorbic acid in their fruits as an oxidative defense parameter. Tomato roots and shoots produced less hydrogen peroxide in high salt conditions, as seen by greater H2O2 concentrations of 127% and 57%, respectively to the control values. As a result, ZnO-NPs can be used to boost tomato development and mitigate the harmful effects of NaCl by regulation of defense mechanisms. This research suggests that ZnO NPs may benefit plants under stress by increasing antioxidant activity, descending lipid peroxidation, and augmenting proline and ascorbic acid levels.