We report a novel chitosan-silicon nanofertilizer (CS–Si NF) wherein chitosan-tripolyphosphate (TPP) nano-matrix has been used to encapsulate silicon (Si) for its slow release. It was synthesied by ionic gelation method and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The developed CS-Si NF exhibited slow release of Si and promoted gowth and yield in maize crop. Seeds primed with different concentrations of CS-Si NF (0.04–0.12%, w/v) exhibited up to 3.7 fold increased seedling vigour index (SVI) as compared with SiO₂. Its foliar spray significantly induced antioxidant-defence enzymes’ activities and equilibrated cellular redox homeostasis by balancing O₂⁻¹ and H₂O₂ content in leaf as compared with SiO₂. Application of nanofertilizer (0.01–0.16%, w/v) stirred total chlorophyll content (21.01–25.11 mg/g) and leaf area (159.34–166.96 cm²) to expedite photosynthesis as compared with SiO₂. In field experiment, 0.08% CS-Si NF resulted in 43.4% higher yield/plot and 0.04% concentration gave 45% higher test weight as compared with SiO₂. Fecund and myriad effects of developed nanofertilizer over SiO₂ could be attributed to slow/protective release of Si from nanofertilizer. Overall, results decipher the enormous potential of CS-Si NF for its use as a next generation nanofertilizer for sustainable agriculture.

我们报告了一种新型的壳聚糖-硅纳米肥料（CS-Si NF），其中壳聚糖-三聚磷酸盐（TPP）纳米基质已被用于包裹硅（Si）以使其缓慢释放。它是通过离子凝胶法合成的，其特征在于动态光散射（DLS），傅立叶变换红外光谱（FTIR），透射电子显微镜（TEM），扫描电子显微镜（SEM），X射线衍射（XRD），X射线光电子能谱（XPS）和原子吸收分光光度法（AAS）。发达的CS-Si NF表现出Si的缓慢释放，并促进了玉米作物的生长和产量。与SiO ₂相比，用不同浓度的CS-Si NF（0.04-0.12％，w / v）引发的种子显示出高达3.7倍的幼苗活力指数（SVI）。。与SiO ₂相比，其叶面喷雾通过平衡叶片中的O ₂ ^-1和H ₂ O ₂含量，显着诱导了抗氧化防御酶的活性并平衡了细胞的氧化还原稳态。与SiO ₂相比，应用纳米肥料（0.01–0.16％，w / v）搅拌总叶绿素含量（21.01–25.11 mg / g）和叶面积（159.34–166.96 cm ²）以促进光合作用。在现场实验中，与SiO ₂相比，0.08％的CS-Si NF导致每幅图的产量提高43.4％，浓度为0.04％的该产品的测试重量提高了45％。SiO ₂上开发的纳米肥料的肥力和多种作用可以归因于Si从纳米肥料中缓慢/保护性释放。总体而言，结果揭示了CS-Si NF用作可持续农业的下一代纳米肥料的巨大潜力。