. 2021 Sep 16;12:637783. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.637783

Table 4.

Impact of nano-silicon dioxide (nano-SiO₂) foliar application on antioxidant activity (%), flavonoids content (μg QE/g), and phenolic content (μg GAE/g) of faba beans (Vicia faba) under well-watered or drought-stressed conditions.

Studied factor		Antioxidant activity (%)	Flavonoids content (μg QE/g extract)	Phenolic content (μg GAE/g extract)
Irrigation
	Well-watered	81.43^b	106.7^b	1,467^b
	Droughted	89.50^a	134.8^a	2,182^a
Foliar
	Control (tap water)	82.06^d	103.5^b	1,482^d
	0.5 mM nano-SiO₂ (T1)	84.24^c	113.4^b	1,805^c
	1 mM nano-SiO₂ (T2)	86.24^b	128.5^a	1,945^b
	1.5 mM nano-SiO₂ (T3)	89.31^a	137.6^a	2,066^a
Interaction
Well-watered	Control	77.03^f	87.68^d	1,275^g
	T1	80.10^e	95.90^d	1,398^f
	T2	83.13^d	115.3^cd	1,512^e
	T3	85.45^c	127.8^bc	1,682^d
Drought stress	Control	87.09^c	119.3^bcd	1,688^d
	T1	88.38^bc	130.9^bc	2,211^c
	T2	89.35^b	141.7^b	2,377^b
	T3	93.17^a	147.4^a	2,450^a
ANOVA	DF
Irrigation (I)	1	0.013	0.039	<0.001
Foliar (F)	3	<0.001	0.019	<0.001
I × F	3	0.003	0.015	<0.001

Means followed by the same letters under the same factor are not significantly different by least significant difference at p ≤ 0.05.

QE, quercetin; GAE, galic acid.