On the nonlinear self-adjointness of the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation

•The Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation is strictly and nonlinearly self-adjoint.•We found Lie point symmetries of this equation.•Conservation laws using the found Lie point symmetries are constructed.

A new general theorem, which does not require the existence of Lagrangians, allows to compute conservation laws for an arbitrary differential equation. This theorem is based on the concept of self-adjoint equations for nonlinear equations. In this paper we show that the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation is self-adjoint and nonlinearly self-adjoint. This property is used to compute conservation laws corresponding to the symmetries of the equation. In particular the property of the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation to be self-adjoint and nonlinearly self-adjoint allows us to get more conservation laws.