Fmoc protected phenylalanine and carboxyl methyl cellulose hybrid hydrogel as seed coating to mitigate drought stress in early seedling growth in Zea Mays L Gayathree I. Senevirathne 1 , J.A. Surani Chathurika 2 , Laksiri Weerasinghe 3, W.A.J.M. De Costa 4 1 Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology and Science Park, Sri Lanka, 2 Department of Urban Bioresources, Faculty of Urban and Aquatic Bio resources, University of Sri Jayewardenapura, Sri Lanka, 3 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences. University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, 4 Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture,University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka The present work was carried out to determine the felicity of Fmoc protected Phenyl alanine (Fmoc-Phe) to apply as a hydrogel seed coating to mitigate drought stress in early seedling growth in Maize ( Zea. mays L.). Gelation of Fmoc-Phe was evaluated, and gelling properties were improved after making it as a hybrid with Carboxyl methyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC-Na). The Fmoc-Phe_CMC-Na hydrogel was coated to maize seeds and tested for its germination potential and seedling vigor. Seedling study was also conducted for composite hydrogel coated seeds with two soil moisture regimes (100% and 40%) in growth chamber for 30 days. Fmoc-Phe in phosphate buffer (6.5) formed a clear hydrogel through self-assembly upon cooling after boiling for few minutes. However, the reswelling capacity and mechanical properties were poor in Fmoc-Phe hydrogel. Therefore, a composite hydrogel was prepared crosslinking Fmoc-Phe in pH buffer with CMC-Na. Fmoc-Phe_CMC-Na showed a swelling capacity of 1500% with stable rewelling and improved coating properties. The germination percentage of Fmoc-Phe_CMC- Na coated seeds and control were 94.7 and 96.0 respectively (p>0.05). After 14 days, the seedling vigor was 50.9 cm in Fmoc-Phe_CMC-Na coated seeds while it was 58.7 cm in the control (p<0.05). The significant difference in seedling vigor and plant biometrics demonstrated that hydrogel has significantly affected maize seedling growth. However, in the 30 days seedling experiment, the results revealed the growth reduction in maize seedlings caused by the hydrogel after 14 days declined after 30 days. The resilience of maize seedlings to moisture stress has also been improved with the application hydrogel compared to seeds without hydrogel which were exposed to moisture stress. Therefore, this confirms a potential to use Fmoc-Phe_CMC-Na hydrogel to alleviate drought stress in early seedling growth of maize.
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