Raneem Melhem*1 , Lina Al-Naddaf 2 and Ali Ziak 3
1 General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Homs Research Center, Syria
2 University of Homs, Homs, Syria.
3 General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Hama Research Center, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Raneem Melhem. E-Mial: Raneem.melhem.9933@gmail.com).
Received: 22/ 07/ 2025 Accepted: 29/ 09/ 2025
Abstract
The study was conducted at the Homs Research Center. General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, and the Biotechnology Center at the University of Homs, to study the response of some physiological traits of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) to irrigation with solutions prepared from two concentrations of sodium chloride (4 and 6 mmos/cm), in addition to a control irrigated with fresh water. The seeds were also soaked in four concentrations of bio-prepared silver nanoparticles by adding aqueous leaf extract (1 and 3 cm3) to silver nitrate (10 and 20 cm3) alternately to obtain concentrations (1:10, 1:20, 3:10, and 3:20). Fenugreek seeds were soaked in these concentrations for a 15 minutes and planted in pots. The experiment was conducted according to a completely randomized design with three replicates. The results showed a significant effect of increasing salinity concentrations on decreasing the relative water content and dry weight of the plant compared to the control irrigated with fresh water. Treatment with silver nanoparticles improved the values of these two indicators, and the 3:10 concentration (nanosilver:olive leaf extract) achieving the best values. Meanwhile, proline values increased with increasing saline concentration, and the 6 mmos/cm concentration recording the highest proline content in the leaves. Proline concentration also increased when the olive leaf aqueous extract concentration increased from 1 to 3 cm3, while proline content decreased when the silver nitrate concentration increased from 10 to 20 cm3 for all treatments. The study concluded that when fenugreek is grown in saline conditions or when irrigation water sources are saline, the technique of soaking bio-prepared silver nanoparticles in olive leaf extract at a concentration of 3:10 for a 15 minutes before planting can be applied.
Keywords: Salt stress, silver nanoparticles, physiological characteristics Fenugreek.
Full paper in Arabic: pdf