Relative Efficiency of Zinc-Coated Urea and Soil and Foliar Application of Zinc Sulphate on Yield, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc and Iron Biofortification in Grains and Uptake by Basmati Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Two on-farm trials conducted one each in Aligarh and Meerut districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India on zinc (Zn) deficient soils during the rainy season (July-October) showed that Zn application increased not only Zn concentration and uptake by rice but also increased protein content of rice kernels and concentrations of Fe, N, P and K due to the overall improvement in crop growth. Foliar application of Zn was better from the viewpoint of Zn biofortification of rice kernels; nevertheless much of the foliar applied Zn was retained in husk. Since, foliar application of Zn is made at a late stage of crop growth, hence it was not as effective as soil application in increasing yield attributes, yield and concentration and uptake of Fe, N, P and K in rice. This study brought out that adequate soil application of Zn sulphate followed by its foliar application is the best approach. Zn coated urea applying less than half the amount of Zn as applied through soil + foliar application was very close to it and is quite promising.

Production and Implication of Bio-Activated Organic Fertilizer Enriched with Zinc-Solubilizing Bacteria to Boost up Maize (Zea mays L.) Production and Biofortification under Two Cropping Seasons

“…Extensive Zn deficiency in soil is considered as a major cause for the declined crop yields worldwide [8]. Additionally, in humans, Zn is the fourth deficient micronutrient after vitamin A, iron (Fe), and iodine (I) [6,9,10]. Consequently, its deficiency ranked fifth in causing disorder and death in humans in developing countries [11].…”

Zinc enrichment in wheat genotypes under various methods of zinc application

“…Maximum Zn content was reported in wheat grains under soil applied 20 kg Zn/ha along with foliar spray of 0.5% of zinc sulphate . Recently, the highest Zn content was reported in wheat grains under foliar application of Zn (Shivay et al 2015).…”

Zinc–nitrogen interaction effect on wheat biofortification and nutrient use efficiency

“…For rice, Rana and Kashif () reported that the ZnSul source yielded fewer tillers per plant than other Zn sources. Although other authors have suggested that the numbers of tillers per plant can be increased by enhancing the soil Zn concentration and foliar–soil Zn application ( Jan et al., ; Shivay et al., ), the highest soil Zn concentration in our experiment was obtained with the ZnSul treatments, and no significant effect was observed regarding the number of tillers. Furthermore, in the treatments in which no N was applied, the natural organic Zn fertilizers were associated with higher N uptake values (approximately 120 kg N ha −1 on average) than the inorganic Zn source (78 kg N ha −1 ).…”