Improvement of cabbage growth and yield by nanofertilizers and nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract Cabbage Brassica oleracea var. capitata L. is one of major winter leafy vegetable which belong to cruciferae family. The local seedlings of 30 days’ cabbage were implanted in 100 m2 land in the Abu Ghraib region, Baghdad, at the 1st of October 2019 and harvested after 75 days, as one agriculture season in Iraq. The plants divided into 6 groups, each includes 45 plants. One of the six groups do not receive any type of fertilizers, as control, while the last 5 groups received different types of nanofertilizers every 21 days. CeO2 prepared by laser ablation and commercial iron and zinc nanoparticles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive x–ray (EXD). The three metal nanoparticles were used as microelements to enhance NPK nanofertilizer. Cabbages that fertilized with nanofertilizers revealed higher circumferences (not less 49.42 cm) when compared with control (28.17 cm). High average of head circumference (56.22 cm) was observed when plant fertilized with NPK + Fe nano fertilizer. On the other hand, cabbages that did not receive any nano fertilizers, as control, show height head of 10.67 cm, while the height head average of 16.67 cm was observed when plant fertilized with NPK + Fe nano fertilizer. Moreover, the higher average of cabbage head weight increased three times more than than control to reach 1.88 Kg/plant when the cabbage fertilized with NPK + CeO2 NPs within 75 days. Furthermore, the higher chlorophyll content of 131.22 mg / 100 g plant leaves was observed in cabbage that fertilized with NPK + CeO2 NPs. Significant differences were obtained between the higher values and others.