Enrichment of ⁶⁵Zn in two contrasting rice genotypes under varying methods of zinc application

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for growth and development of almost all organisms and its deficiency severely affects the health of plants, animals and humans. In order to investigate the enrichment of Zn in cereals a pot experiment was performed in two contrasting rice varieties viz., PD16 (zinc efficient) and NDR359 (zinc inefficient) under different levels of zinc regimes such as control (0 Zn), soil application (5 mg Zn/kg soil tagged with 3.7 MBq of 65 Zn/pot), foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO 4 at 30, 60 and 90 days (925 KBq of 65 Zn/pot), soil application (5 mg Zn/kg soil tagged with 3.7 MBq of 65 Zn/pot) + foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO 4 at 30, 60 and 90 days (925 KBq of 65 Zn/pot). Both varieties markedly differ in 65 Zn accumulation and grain Zn content. NDR359 showed poor translocation efficiency and accumulated relatively less 65 Zn in all the plant parts. In both rice varieties, highest concentration of Zn in dehusked grains could be obtained with soil application of Zn + foliar spray of zinc sulphate. Though NDR359, a zinc inefficient variety exhibited poor zinc translocation efficiency yet, it contained more Zn content in grains with husk and dehusked grains than PD16.