Synergistic use of nitrogen and zinc to bio-fortify zinc in wheat grains

Abstract

Article Info Received : 24.01.2017 Accepted : 07.04.2017 Our daily diet is largely contributed by cereals, which have low genetic abilities to amass higher concentrations of micronutrients in their grains. Hence, wide spread deficiencies iron, zinc and other essential nutrients have prevailed. Present study focuses the biofortification of Zn in wheat grains, taking advantage of nutrient-nutrient synergy between Zn and N. Three wheat genotypes (NIA-Amber, BWQ-4 and SD-998) were tested in a field experiment following randomized complete block factorial design with three replicates. Urea fertilizer was applied at the rates of 120 (recommended), 150 and 180 kg N ha -1 in combination with three levels of Zn (0, 5 & 10 kg ha -1 ). Outcomes of the experiment revealed that NIA-Amber had the highest grain yield of 6.03 tons/ha against 150 kg N ha -1 and 10 kg Zn ha -1 . Maximum Zn contents of 447.86, 429.56 and 395.56 g ha -1 were observed in BWQ-4, SD-998 and NIA-Amber at 180 kg N ha -1 in combination with 10 kg Zn ha -1 . Maximum enhancement in protein contents was observed in BWQ-4 (743 kg ha -1 ) at 180 kg N ha -1 and combined with 5 kg Zn ha -1 . For NIA-Amber, 180 kg N ha -1 in combination of 10 kg Zn ha -1 proved the most suitable in terms of Zn concentration and other quality attributes. Nitrogen @ 180 kg N ha -1 with 5 kg Zn ha -1 depicted appreciable zinc and protein contents in grains of BWQ-4 and SD-998.

Agronomic zinc biofortification of wheat to improve accumulation, bioavailability, productivity and use efficiency

“…Cakmak et al (2010) explained role of improved protein synthesis and activity due to better enzymatic functions in plants, in increasing Zn concentration in vegetative parts and Zn translocation into grains. Kutman et al (2012), Barunawati et al (2013), Sperotto et al (2013) and Akram et al (2017) also found similar results when Zn was applied to different crops. Phytic acid is indigestible in human yet, its concentration is important for grain vigor and plant functions.…”

Evaluation of different levels of nitrogen, zinc and their combined effect on yield and yield contributing traits of wheat

“…However, several researches showed that the lower rate of Zn was more favorable than higher rate in terms of grain yield. Plant height, straw yield, grain yield was improved with increasing rates of N (120 or 150 kg/ha) combined with different levels of Zn (0, 5, 10 kg/ha) than the individual application (Ahmadi et al, 2016;Akram et al, 2017). Maximum emergence, number of tillers, plant height and number of spikes were recorded in plots which were sprayed with 0.5% N, 0.5% K and 0.5% Zn solutions while minimum were recorded in control plots (Gulet al, 2011).There were significant effects of N application on the spike number, the grain number per spike and grain yield as well as Zn application showed significant effect on the spike number, thousand kernel weight and grain yield.…”

Effectiveness of Organics with Nitrogen Levels and Bio-fertilizers on Soil Chemico-biological Properties of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Crop [Cv.PBW-343] in Inseptisol

“…Crop residues can have a large effect on soil microbial biomass and activity, which, in turn, affect the ability of soil to supply nutrients to plants through soil organic matter turnover. Microbial biomass carbon has positively correlated with organic carbon content in soil [28,[61][62][63][64][65].…”

“…Dehydrogenase activity, APA-Alkaline phosphatase activity, MBC-Microbial biomass carbonin receiving maximum values of plant growth parameter, yield attributing characteristics, grain yield, soil microbial biomass carbon and dehydrogenase activities at all the growth stages of wheat crop[28,30,[60][61][62][63].Similarly, alkaline phosphatase activity it varied from 148 44. 185.97, 152.27-186.73 and 152.05-186.35 µg para nitrophenol g ) consisting of 100% nitrogen alone, i.e.…”