Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Is Mitigation Of Drought Stress By Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Driven By A Nano-Specific Mechanism Or Mitigation Of Micronutrient Deficiency?, Justin Deakin

Student Research Symposium

It has been reported that zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) can promote drought tolerance in crops when used as soil amendments. However, many of these experiments were conducted in Zn-deficient growth media with no comparison to currently available Zn fertilization methods, making it unclear if the benefits from adding ZnO NPs were caused by a nano-specifc mechanism or simply by the mitigation of a micronutrient deficiency. A review of the literature shows that of 12 published experiments considering the effects of ZnO NPs on plant health, 5 out of 6 studies that did not include a comparison to currently available …