Growth and Yield Performance of Drought-Stressed Soybean (Glycine max L.) Treated with Neem-Mediated Silver Nanoparticles

Abstract

The application of nanotechnology in agriculture has shown considerable promise, particularly in enhancing crop resilience to environmental stresses. This research investigated the impact of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in seed treatment on soybean performance under drought conditions. The study utilized a factorial completely randomized design with four replications. The experimental factors consisted of seed treatments (control, AgNPs priming, and AgNPs coating) and drought stress levels represented by field water capacity (FWC) at 80%, 60%, and 40%. The results demonstrated that AgNPs coating significantly increased shoot length by 14% compared to untreated controls. Plants under moderate (60% FWC) and severe (40% FWC) drought stress exhibited increased leaf greenness index by 4.5% and 6.3% respectively, despite showing a reduced number of leaves by 17.9-20%. Severe drought stress (40% FWC) resulted in a 12.2% reduction in number of seeds per plant compared to well-watered conditions. Importantly, both AgNPs priming and coating treatments effectively mitigated the negative impacts of drought stress on leaf development and seed production, thus maintaining yield stability. These findings indicate that AgNPs seed treatment can be a practical approach for enhancing drought tolerance in soybean production systems.