Nanopriming as an Effective Tool for Reducing Heavy Metal Toxicity in Rice

Heavy metals such as Arsenic and cadmium, present in the environment in different oxidative states, affect the productivity and quality of the rice seeds. Seed priming is an effective way to deal with this problem. Seed priming uses treatments to improve seed germination and thus potentially increase growth and yield. It is a low-cost, environmentally friendly, effective seed treatment method. The type of seed priming done in this study was seed nano-priming. Nano-priming is an innovative seed priming technology that helps to improve seed germination, seed growth, and yield by providing resistance to various stresses in plants and is considerably more effective method compared to all other seed priming methods. Ferrous Nanoparticles have been used in this study for seed nano-priming. Seeds were primed with two concentrations of Fe NPs – 5mg/ml and 10mg/ml. Apart from this, seeds were also primed with deionised water and phytochemical to check the effectiveness of nanoparticles compared to other types of priming. The study shows promising results for the growth of Nano primed rice seeds in the presence of arsenic / cadmium stresses in the environment.