Evaluation of soybean sprouting growth vigor based on ZnONPs.

Abstract

Introduction Nanoparticle-induced treatments can promote seed germination and improve germination potential under environmental stresses such as drought and salinity. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on soybean seed germination and to develop a precise evaluation method. Methods We developed a full-time sequence crop growth vitality monitoring system. Using germination rate and root length as primary evaluation indicators, we conducted full-time sequence germination vitality monitoring experiments on soybean seeds treated with ZnONPs. A dataset was constructed from images documenting embryonic root growth. The developed detection model was used to evaluate image detection accuracy during germination. Germination index and embryonic root length were also calculated. Further tests were performed on seeds exposed to 600 mg/L ZnONPs dispersion, followed by treatment with different concentrations of NaCl and PEG6000 solutions. Results At a concentration of 600 mg/L ZnONPs dispersion, soybean seeds showed the highest germination rate (an increase of 28%) and the longest radicle length (an increase of 42%). Compared with deionized water, the 600 mg/L ZnONPs dispersion accelerated initial germination time, increased germination rate, and enhanced radicle length under low-concentration stress. Discussion The results indicate that, at certain concentrations, ZnONPs dispersion positively influences soybean seed germination under varying salinity and drought conditions. We examined morphological and physiological changes in ZnONPs-treated seeds under stress, establishing a preliminary foundation for evaluating crop and variety vitality. These findings provide new insights that may contribute to improving soybean germination under simulated stress conditions, serving as a preliminary theoretical reference for potential applications in arid and saline environments.

Plant phenotyping relevance

発芽中の画像から発芽率・幼根長を抽出する連続モニタリングシステムと検出モデルを開発し、精度評価とデータセット構築を行っており、表現型取得手法が中心である。

Code and data availability

The paper describes a soybean germination phenotyping study with a 1,728-image dataset and a YOLOv8SEGCAL model, but no public repository, code deposit, or authors' URL for the dataset, images, or trained model is provided. The data availability statement only offers raw data from the authors upon request, and the sole

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.