SHANKAR, A GRAMESH, RADDY2016-10-262016-10-2641841Th-10843http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/82132Nanotechnology is a versatile field, and has vast application in all spheres of life. But in agriculture the application and utility is limited. Nutritional deficiency is the third most important next to drought and salinity in limiting plant growth and productivity. Use of nanotechnology can aid to some extent to tackle this issues. These nano particles are having high surface area, high reactivity, better catalytic activity and rapidly dispersible. These properties support in better uptake of nutrients by plants. In the present study conducted in the Department of Crop Physiology, UAS, GKVK, Bengalure during kharif-2013, an attempt was made to study the effect of nano zinc particle (Zn oxide) for improving growth and yield of crop plants such as rice, ragi, sunflower and cowpea. Initially concentrations of nano Zn particle (Zn oxide), Zn gluconate and Zn sulfate for seed priming were standardized in-vitro. Further the, different combinations of treatments for investigation include seed priming, foliar application and combinations, were studied in pot culture. The obtained results showed that the usage of nano ZnO fertilizers through any method of application has significant positive effect compared to Zn gluconate and Zn sulfate. The Zn estimation revealed that nano ZnO treated plants showed the significant increase in the Zn content compared to other Zn sources. Further the effect of ZnO nano particle under stress condition was investigated. RT-PCR study revealed that the expression of Zn/Cu SOD under stress condition with nano Zn treatment was significantly high compared to ZnSO4. Thus nanotechnology is one of technologies where lot of scope exists to improve the plant nutrition.enanimal husbandry, livestock, milk, yoghurt, acidity, sampling, milk products, economic systems, bacteria, productivityThesis