Content uploaded by Sheeba Belwal
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Sheeba Belwal on Sep 28, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
Assessment of growth, flowering and seed yield in Calendula (Calendula
officinalis L.) as influenced by gold-nanoparticle
Ranjan K. Srivastava
1
*, Satish Chand, B.D. Bhuj, Ajit Kumar, Rajat Sharma and
Sheeba Belwal
Department of Horticulture,
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar-263 145, INDIA
Abstract
Gold-nanoparticles spray influences growth, flowering and seed yield of Calendula. Experiment
consisted of four treatments (5, 10, 15, 20 ppm Gold-nanoparticle), along with control and was
laid out in Randomized Block Design with four replications. Foliar application of Gold-
nanoparticle suspension was done 25 days after transplanting of seedlings to the experimental
field. Among the various treatments, application of 10 ppm of Gold-nanoparticle was found best
for most of the parameters viz., plant height (73.95 cm), plant spread (54.62), number of leaves
(127.55), flower diameter(7.06 cm), fresh flower weight (4.31 g), days to flower bud initiation
(30.85 days), duration to flowering (105.15 days), total number of flowers (131.30), seed weight
(35.73 g), estimated flower yield (28 tons/ha).
Key words: Calendula, Gold-nano particles, growth, flowering, seed yield
Introduction: Calendula (Calendula officinalis) commonly known as pot marigold or poor man’s
saffron is linked to the astrological sign of summer as the flowers follow the sun. Commercially,
calendula is extensively grown in beds, baskets and boxes. Flowers are sold in the market as loose
or for making garlands. Flowers are also gaining popularity as cut flower, and traditionally used
for offering in churches and temples for use in ceremonies, festivals, beautification and landscape
plans. Calendula plant was grown by Egyptians, Arabs, Indians, and Greeks for medicinal purposes
during 12th century (Zaman, 24).In Europe, calendula flowers have been introduced as drug in
1
Email: ranjansrivastava25@gmail.com
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
some pharmacopoeia and are used to cure stomach and intestinal diseases. The flowers contain
essential oils which are used for high blood-fat and treatment of inflammation intestine organs
(Mrda et al., 16).Currently, this plant is used in registered homeopathic drugs and as colouring
agent for other medicines due to its dark orange pigment (Zaman, 24). Eating its soup as “pot herb”
is a common practice in America. Some of its combinations such as resins have antifungal,
antibacterial, and antivirus effects. Calendula cream
alone or in combination with other plants is also a favourite homeopathic remedy to treat minor
burns. Recently, calendula is being investigated for its anti-canceras properties. Besides medicinal
uses, it is also used in perfume-making and its yellow colour pigment, carotenoids, is used in
cosmetics as a colouring element (Salehi-Sormaghi, 18). An increasing interest in calendula
cultivation has been witnessed in recent years as an oil-bearing plant whose seeds were reported to
contain unique poly unsaturated fatty acids which have the potential to be used in paint, coatings and
pharmaceutical industries (Król and Paszko, 12).
Nano-particles can serve as “magic bullets” in herbicides, nanopesticide, fertilizers, or genes as
they target specific cellular or ganelle in plant to release their content. They show unique physical,
chemical and biological properties which are completely distinct from their bulk material or
individual molecule. A variety of engineered nanoparticles are being used in past few decade to
improve crop yield (Barik et al., 4). The interaction of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with plants has
been studied. Gopinath et al., (9) reported increased seed yield of endangered medicinal plant
Gloriosa superba by the treatment of gold nanoparticles. Few reports suggest that AuNPs play
significant role in the germination of micro RNA expression which regulates various
morphological, physiological and metabolic processes in plants (Kumar et al., 13). The present
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
investigation was planned to optimize the concentration of gold nanoparticles on growth, flowering
and seed yield.
Materials and methods:
The present investigation was carried out during 2017-18 and 2018-19 at Model Floriculture Centre
of the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar located at 290 N latitude and
79.30 E longitudes in the foot hills of the Himalaya at an altitude of 243.84 m above mean sea level.
The soils of experimental field was sandy loam having pH 6.68, organic carbon (0.60%), available
N, P and K as 231.91, 18.34 and 135.97 Kgha-1, respectively. Well rotten farmyard manure (@ 5
kg/m2) was mixed into soil at the time of bed preparation. Half dose of nitrogen and full doses of
phosphorus and potassium were also added to the soil at the time of bed preparation in the ratio
100:100:80 kg/ha. Other half dose of nitrogen was applied in two split doses at an interval of 20
days after the first application. The 25-day-old seedlings were transplanted at a spacing of 60 x 30
cm and irrigated. Gold nanoparticle suspension was applied by foliar application method. Stock
solution of 150 ppm was taken and diluted to make four different concentrations (5, 10, 15, 20
ppm).The amount of water used for volume make up was 2 litres. The suspension was sprayed at
vegetative stage of plant growth after 25 days of transplanting. The experiment was laid down in
randomized block design with five treatments replicated four times. There were 25 plants per plot
per replication. The crop was raised under uniform cultural conditions. The oil extraction from
seeds of calendula was also done by method of extraction of fatty oil (Earle et al., 6). For the
extraction of fatty oil, Soxhlet apparatus was used. This apparatus comprises of three basic
components: condenser, porous container and distillation pot. Solvent like hexane or petroleum
ether are used for the extraction. After the collection of seeds, they were dried at room temperature.
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
Before extraction, grinding of the sample with mechanical grinder to an appropriate particle size
(less than 2-3 mm in diameter) was done. Then, depending upon the size of seed, about 48 gm of
seed was taken for the extraction. Solvent was kept in the vials and was heated in water bath for
proper recovery of oil. Seed sample was kept in small cone shape cotton bag along with the cotton
ball to prevent the mixing of seed with solvent. Once the solvent started boiling, it evaporated and
came in contact with the seed. Grinded seeds allow evaporation of oil along with the solvent. The
process continued for about 8-10 hours. Then the oil containing solvent was worked under apparatus
called solvent extractor or vacuum evaporator to separate fatty oil from the solvent. The remaining
oil was collected in a bottle and amount of extracted oil was calculated in each treatment. Data
recorded was statistically analysed with the help of computer by using STPR3 software application.
Results and discussion:
Vegetative characters: The data pertaining to the effect of different concentrations (5, 10, 15, 20
ppm) of gold nanoparticle over control (T5) on plant height of calendula are presented in Table 1.
The maximum plant height was attained by T2 (73.95 cm) which was significantly higher than rest
of the treatments and followed by T1 (64.95 cm),T3 (61.75 cm), T5 (61.20 cm) which are statistically
at par while the shortest plant height was recorded in treatment T4 (57.20 cm). The findings of
present investigation suggested that, maximum plant height was recorded with lower concentration
of gold-nanoparticle (AuNP) treatment (10 ppm). This might be due to increased chlorophyll
content (Arora et al., 2) resulting in more photosynthetic activity which further facilitated the
maximum production and utilization of photo-assimilates. Positive effects of nanoparticles are
more pronounced at lower concentrations. Khodakovskaya et al. (11) also reported increased plant
height of tomato by the application of carbon nanotubes application at 50 μg/ml. Moreover,
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
application of AuNPs at 10 ppm concentration showed an increased average plant height in
Brassica juncea (Arora et al., 2).The increment in the height might be due to increased level of
gibberellic acid (GAs), as GA is responsible for shoot elongation (Stepanova et al., 21). However,
the lesser plant height was observed with the highest concentration (20 ppm) of AuNP, because at
higher concentration AuNP become toxic to plants and inhibiting aquaporin function, a group of
proteins that help in the transportation of wide range of molecules including water (Shah and
Belozerova, 20). These results are supported by Laware and Raskar (15) in onion and reported that
effect of nano particles was dose dependent. Higher concentration often shows toxicity in plants.
The highest value of plant spread was recorded in treatment T2 (54.62 cm) which was
statistically at par with T5 (52.60 cm) and T3 (51.25 cm) but significantly higher than T1 (49.32
cm) and T4 (43.75 cm) in the growth stage of 100 days (flowering time) (Table 1). Kuzma et al.
(14) reported that gold-nanoparticles were chemically more stable than other metallic
nanoparticles. The interaction of plant cells with the engineered nanoparticles leads to modification
in biological pathways and plant gene expression which eventually affects growth and
development in plants (Ghormade, 7).The increment in growth parameters might be due to the
increased efficiency caused by application of nanoparticles. Like plant height, increment in plant
spread indicates increment in vigour of the plants. The findings of the present investigation suggest
that, with increase in concentration of gold-nanoparticle plant spread increase showing maximum
spread at 10 ppm concentrations.
There was no significant effect of gold- nanoparticle on number of branches at 100 days of
spray. However, the number of branches ranged from 22.80 in plants treated with gold-
nanoparticle (5 ppm)[T1] to 25.15 in plants treated with gold- nanoparticle (10 ppm)[T2]. Tripathi
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
et al. (23) recorded increased pattern of growth in number of branches by application of water
soluble carbon nanotubes (wsCNTs) at 6.0 μg/ml concentration in Cicer arietinum.
It is evident from the data that number of leaves was positively influenced by
treatment of gold-nan
oparticle. The maximum number of leaves were recorded in treatment T2 (127.55)
which was statistically at par with T1 (112.55) and T5 (107.20) but significantly higher than
rest of the treatments. However, minimum number of leaves (89.50) was recorded in T4. In
a plant, leaf number is regulated by a complex interaction of various genes whose expression
is modulated by growth hormones (Gonzalez et al., 8). Gaseous plant hormone ethylene
regulates leaf abscission. It has been observed that inhibition of ethylene action reduces the
event of abscission (Seif et al., 19). At 10 ppm concentration, maximum increase in number
of leaves was observed. Finding of the present investigation is in agreement with the findings
of Arora et al., (2). An accelerated pattern of growth was observed in number of leaves up to
10 ppm concentration after which it declined significantly. The decline in number of leaves
might be due to the toxicity caused by the treatment at higher concentrations. Gold-
nanoparticle treatment may obstruct the physiological role of plant hormone, as a result of
which ethylene concentration decreased and number of leaves increased in treated plants.
Flowering characters: Among all treatments, maximum number of days required for flower bud
initiation was recorded in treatment T4 (34.85 days) which was statistically at par with T1 (33.25
days), T3 (32.80 days) and T5 (33.25 days) while minimum days to flowering were recorded in T2
(30.85 days). Results clearly stated that gold-nanoparticle positively influenced the emergence of
flower buds in calendula (Table 2). Stepanova et al. (21) reported that indigenous plant hormone
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
auxin and ethylene can reciprocally regulate each other’s response pathways, and act on the same
target but independent of each other. Application of gold-nanoparticle had shown significant
increase in number of branches which might be due to ethylene inhibition which can reciprocally
induce higher auxin translocation in plants. The auxins are found to regulate various aspects of
flowering including flower initiation, growth and organ differentiation and various other events in
plant life to ensure reproductive success of mature flowers (Cheng and Zhao, 5 and Sundberg and
Ostergaard, 22).Early flowering might be as a result of increased level of auxin and rapid
translocation of sugars to the reproductive areas of the plant. These results were in agreement with
that of Raskar and Laware (17) who also reported early induction of flowers by application of zinc
oxide nanoparticle (ZnONPs) at 20 and 30 μg/ml in onion (Allium cepa).
The data presented in Table 2 clearly reveal that application of gold-nanoparticle although
enhanced the average number of flowers per treatment but the difference was non-significant
among all the treatments and control. However, the maximum number of flowers were recorded
in treatment T2 (131.30) whereas, minimum flowers were recorded in treatment T4 (108.85).
Khodakovskaya et al. (11) also reported that application of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in tomato
proved efficient for activation of reproductive system of plants which lead to two times increased
production of flowers and fruits (50 μg/ml).
The data pertaining to diameter of flower is presented in the Table 2 showed that among
all the treatments, maximum flower diameter was recorded in treatment T2 (7.06 cm) which was
statistically at par with T3 (6.26 cm) and T4 (5.83 cm) but significantly higher than rest of the
treatments, whereas, the minimum flower diameter was recorded in treatment T1 (4.97 cm). The
findings of the investigation showed that with increase in gold-nanoparticle concentration from 5
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
ppm to 10 ppm, there was increase in flower diameter from 4.97 cm to 7.06 cm but dropped to
6.26 cm and 5.83 cm with increase in concentration to 15 ppm and 20 ppm, respectively (Table 2).
The pattern of the results clearly indicates that role nanoparticles are specifically concentration
dependent. Khodakovskaya et al. (11) reported higher diameter of tomato fruit when treated with
carbon nanotubes at 50 μg/ml.
It is evident from the data that gold- nanoparticles had a positive effect on fresh weight of
flowers. The maximum weight of flower was observed in treatment T2 (4.31 g) which was
significantly higher than T1 (3.64 g), T5 (3.50 g) and T3 (3.30 g) while the minimum weight of
flower was recorded in treatment T4 (1.08 g). With the increase in concentration (5 ppm and 10
ppm) weight of flower increased after which it started declining (15ppm and 20 ppm). The reason
behind increase in weight might be due to more and more divergence of sugar and carbohydrates
to the reproductive areas of the plant. Almutairi et al. (1) also reported increased fresh seedling
weight of Zea mays (154 gm) after treatment with 2 mg/ml silver nanoparticle treatment over
control after 12 days of treatment.
The duration of flowering was significantly influenced by the application of gold
nanoparticle treatment. The maximum duration of flowering was recorded in treatment T2 (105.15
days) which was significantly higher than rest of the treatments. The minimum duration of
flowering was recorded in treatment T1 (95.64 days). The flowering duration in T5, T3 and T4 was
99.05 days, 98.64, 97.40 days respectively, which were statistically at par with each other. Like
other flowering characters, a long duration of flowering was observed in 10 ppm gold-nanoparticle
treatment. The increased flowering duration might be due to the increased efficiency of plant
caused by application of gold nanoparticle. Efficiency increment may be a reason behind
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
accelerated photosynthesis, resulting in more and more divergence of photo-assimilates to
reproductive organs in all stages of plant growth resulting in longer duration of flowering. The
maximum flower yield (28 tons/ha) was estimated from treatment T2 which was significantly
higher than rest of the treatments. However, the estimated yield from treatment T1, T3 and T5 were
23 tons/ha, 20.5 tons/ha and 21.5 tons/ha, respectively. The minimum flower yield (6 tons/ha) was
estimated from treatment T4.
Seed and Oil parameters: The data on seed weight per treatment as influenced by gold-
nanoparticle treatment is presented in Table 4.7 and Fig. 4.7 The maximum seed weight was
recorded in treatment T2 (35.73 g) which was statistically at par with treatment T3 (35.57 g) but
significantly higher than rest of the treatments. It was followed by T1 (34.14 g) which was
significantly higher than T4 (28.91 g). The minimum weight of seeds was recorded in control T5
(27.74 g) treatment. The findings of the present investigation are in agreement with Arora et al.
(2) who reported that application of gold-nanoparticle at 10 ppm concentration increased the
number of pods per plant or average seed yield per plant in Brassica juncea seedlings. The findings
also stated that all the treatments showed significantly higher average seed weight over control
(untreated seedlings). Also, increment (about 19 %) in seed yield per plant was recorded at 10 ppm
AuNPs treatment. Laware and Raskar,(15) also reported higher seed weight per umbel in onion by
the application of ZnO NPs at 20 and 30 μg/ml concentrations.
The test weight of seeds (1000 seeds) per treatment was significantly influenced by
different treatments. The results stated that maximum test weight of seeds was recorded in
treatment T1 (9.75 g) which was significantly higher than rest of the treatments. It was followed
by treatment T2 (9.22 g) which was significantly higher than T3 (8.96 g), T4 (9.08 g) and T5 (9.06
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
g). However, the minimum test weight of seeds was observed in treatment T3 (8.96 g). Bakhtiari
et al., (3) also observed increase in test weight of wheat (Triticum aestivum) grains (37.96 gm)
after application of nano-iron solution at 0.04%. Laware and Raskar (15) also reported increase in
test weight of onion seeds by the application of zinc nanoparticle (ZnO NPs) treatment at 20 and
30 μg/ml concentrations.
The oil yield of calendula seeds as influenced by gold-nanoparticle treatment. The
maximum oil was extracted from T4 (6.41 ml/48 g) treatment followed by T1 (6.21 ml/ 48 g). These
values are statistically at par with each other. The minimum oil yield was recorded in T5 (5.57
ml/48 g) which was significantly lower than rest of the treatments. The oil yield in treatments T2
and T3 were 5.89 ml/48g and 5.94 ml/48 g of seed, respectively. Arora et al. (2012)[2] also reported
higher oil production in Gold-nanoparticle treated plants with increase in CO2 concentration (3-
4%) over control in Brassica juncea.
The application of gold-nanoparticle had a significant effect on oil yield of calendula. The
maximum oil yield (220.20 kg/ha) was estimate from treatment T1 which was statistically at par
with treatment T2 (214.37 kg/ha) but significantly higher than T3 (213.41 kg/ha) and T4 (187.66
kg/ha). The minimum oil yield (152.57 kg/ha) was estimated from treatment T5.
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
References:
1. Almutairi, Zainab M. and Amjad, Alharbi 2015. Effect of silver nanoparticles on seed
germination of crop plants. Agril and Biosystems Engg 2(6): 117-123
2. Arora, S, Sharma P., Kumar, S., Nayan, R., Khanna, P.K. and Zaidi, M.G.H. 2012. Gold
nanoparticle induced enhancement in growth and seed yield of Brassica juncea. Pl Growth
Regulator,66: 303-310.
3. Bakhtiari, M, Moaveni, P. and Sani, B. 2015.The effect of magnetite nanoparticles spraying
time and concentration on wheat. Biol forum – An Int J,7(1): 679-683.
4. Barik, T.K., Sahu, B. and Swain, V. 2008. Nanosilica-from medicine to pest control. Parasit
Res, 103:253–258.
5. Cheng, Y. and Zhao, Y. 2007. A role for auxin in flower development. J Integrative Pl Biol,
49:99–104.
6. Earle, F.R., Mikolajczak, K.L., Wolff, I.A. and Barclay, A.S.1964. Search for new industrial
oils. X. Seed oils of the Calenduleae, J Amer Oil Chemists Soc, 41(5): 345-347.
7. Ghormade, V., Deshpande, M.V. and Paknikar, K.M. 2011. Perspectives for nano-
biotechnology enabled protection and nutrition of plants. Biotech Adv,29(6): 792–803.
8. Gonzalez, P., Neilson, R.P., Lenihan, J.M. and Drapek, R.J. 2010. Global patterns in the
vulnerability of ecosystems to vegetation shifts due to climate change. Global
Ecol&Biogeo,10: 1-14.
9. Gopinath,K., Gowri, S., Karthika. V. and Arumugam. A. 2014. Green synthesis of gold-
nanoparticles from fruit extract of Terminalia arjuna, for enhanced seed germination activity
of Gloriosa superba. J Nanostructure Chem,4:1-11.
10. Khodakovskaya, M., Kim, B.S., Kim, J.N., Alimohammadi, Dervishi, M.E., Mustafa, T. and
Cerniglia, C.E. 2012. Carbon nanotubes as growth regulators: effects on tabacco growth,
reproductive system, and soil microbial community. Small,9:115–123
11. Król, B. and Paszko, T. 2017. Harvest date as a factor affecting crop yield, oil content and
fatty acid composition of the seeds of calendula (Calendula officinalis L.) cultivars. Industrial
Crops & Products, 97: 242–251.
12. Kumar, V., Guleria, P., Kumar, V. and Yadav, S.K. 2013. Gold nanoparticle exposure induces
growth and yield enhancement in Arabidopsis thaliana. SciTotal Environ,461:462–468.
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
13. Kuzma, A., Weis, M., Flickyngerova, S., Jakabovic, J., Satka, A. and Dobrocka, E. 2012.
Influence of surface oxidation on plasmon resonance in monolayer of gold and silver
nanoparticles.J Appl Phys,112 (10): 531-535.
14. Laware, S.L. and Raskar, Shilpa 2014. Effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on hydrolytic
and antioxidant enzymes during seed germination in onion. Int J Current Microbiol &
ApplSci. 3(7): 749-760.
15. Mrda, J., Marinkovic, B. and Jacimovic, G. 2007. Effect of row spacing on calendula
(Calendula officinalis L.) flowers production. Proc. Int SympTrends in European Agric
Develop, Scientific Papers Fac Agri, 39(1):77-82.
16. Raskar, S.V. and Laware, S.L. 2014. Effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on cytology and seed
germination in onion. Int J Current Microbiol and Appl Sci, 3: 467-473.
17. Salehi-Sormaghi, M.H. 2006. Medicinal and medical plant, Iran. 1: 406.
18. Seif, S.M., Sorooshzadeh, A.H., Rezazadeh, S. and Naghdibadi, H.A. 2011. Effect of nano
silver and silver nitrate on seed yield of borage. J Med Plants Res,5(2):171-175.
19. Shah, V., and Belozerova, I. 2009. Influence of metal nanoparticles on the soil microbial
community and germination of lettuce seeds. Water, Air&Soil Pollution, 197:143-148.
20. Stepanova, A.N., Yun, J., Likhacheva, A.V. and Alonso, J.M. 2007. Multilevel interactions
between ethylene and auxin in Arabidopsis roots. Plant Cell,19:2169–2185
21. Sundberg, E. and Ostergaard, L. 2009. Distinct and dynamic auxin activities during
reproductive development. Cold Spring Harbor Pers in Biol 1, a001628.
22. Tripathi, S., Sonkar, S.K. and Sarkar, S. 2011. Growth stimulation of Gram (Cicer arietinum)
plant by water soluble carbon nanotubes. Nanoscale, 3:1176–1181.
23. Zaman, S. 2003. Medicinal plant, QoQnus publication. Tehran, İran. pp 45-90.
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
Table 1: Effect of gold-nanoparticle treatments on vegetative characters of calendula at flowering
stage
Treatments
Plant height (cm)
Plant spread (cm)
Number of
branches (cm)
Number of
leaves
T1 (5 ppm)
64.95
49.32
22.80
112.55
T2 (10 ppm)
73.95
54.62
25.15
127.55
T3 (15 ppm)
61.75
51.25
24.00
94.05
T4 (20 ppm)
57.20
43.75
23.60
89.50
T5 (Control)
61.20
52.60
24.55
107.20
CD (5%)
7.17
4.40
NS
24.51
SEm
2.32
1.43
1.08
7.95
Table 2: Effect of gold-nanoparticle treatment on flowering parameters of calendula
Treatments
Days to
flowering
(days)
Number of
Flower
Flower
diameter
(cm)
Flower
weight (g)
Flowering
duration
(days)
Estimated
flower yield
(tons/ha)
T1 (5 ppm)
33.25
127.65
4.97
3.64
95.64
23
T2 (10 ppm)
30.85
131.30
7.06
4.31
105.15
28
T3 (15 ppm)
32.80
122.10
6.26
3.30
98.64
20.5
T4 (20 ppm)
34.85
108.85
5.83
1.08
97.40
6.0
T5 (Control)
33.25
121.35
5.32
3.50
99.05
21.5
CD (5%)
2.82
NS
1.27
0.60
2.69
0.56
SEm
0.91
10.43
0.41
0.19
0.87
0.182
TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY-Turk J Agric For
E-ISSN: 1303-6173 ISSN: 1300-011X
Year: 2021 Volume: 45 Number: 1
Table 3: Effect of gold-nanoparticle treatment on seed and estimated oil yield (kg/ha) of calendula
Treatments
Seed weight
(g)
Seed test wt.
(g)
Oil yield
(ml/48 gram)
Estimated oil
yield (kg/ha)
T1 (5 ppm)
34.14
9.75
6.21
220.20
T2 (10 ppm)
35.73
9.22
5.89
214.37
T3 (15 ppm)
35.57
8.96
5.94
213.41
T4 (20 ppm)
28.91
9.08
6.41
187.66
T5 (Control)
27.74
9.06
5.57
152.57
CD (5%)
0.44
0.25
0.21
5.61
SEm
0.14
0.08
0.06
1.84
