The requirement of zinc for improvement of crop yield and mineral nutrition in the maize–mungbean–rice system

Abstract

A study was made over 3 years to find out an optimum rate of Zn application for the maizemungbean-rice cropping system in a calcareous soil of Bangladesh. Zinc application was made at 0, 2 and 4 kg ha −1 for maize (cv. Pacific 984, Thai hybrid) and at 0, 1 and 2 kg ha −1 for rice (cv. BRRI dhan33), with no Zn application for mungbean (cv. BARI mung5). Effect of Zn was evaluated in terms of yield and mineral nutrients contents (N, P, S and Zn). All the three crops responded significantly to Zn application. The optimum rate of Zn for the maize-mungbean-rice cropping system was found to be 4-0-2 kg ha −1 for the first year and 2-0-2 kg ha −1 for subsequent years particularly when mungbean residue was removed, and such rates for mungbean residue incorporation being 4-0-1 and 2-0-1 kg ha −1 , respectively. For all crops, the Zn and N concentrations of grain were significantly increased with Zn application. For the case of grain-S, the concentration was significantly increased for maize and mungbean, but it remained unchanged for rice. The grain-P concentration on the other hand tended to decrease with Zn application. For maize, the grain-Zn concentration increased to 27.0 μg g −1 due to 2 kg Zn ha −1 treatment from 16.5 μg g −1 for Zn control and at higher Zn rate (4 kg Zn ha −1 ) the increment was very minimum. Another field experiment was performed over 3 years on the same soil to screen out maize varieties for Zn efficiency. Of the eight varieties tested, the BARI maize 6 and BARI hybrid maize 3 were found Zn in-responsive (Zn efficient) and the others Zn responsive (Zn-inefficient).

Zinc fertilizer placement affects zinc content in maize plant

“…Where Zn was applied only in 30-60 cm zone resulted in lowest Zn content in both experiments. Few studies can be comparable with current results because previous studies focused mostly on new types of fertilizer, correction of Zn deficiency, new methods such as seed priming (Alvarez and Rico 2003;Harris et al 2007;Hossain et al 2008), but not the vertical stratification of Zn fertilizer. Both root surface area (Genc et al 2007) and available Zn in the soil (e.g., DTPA-Zn) (Lindsay and Norvell 1978) are essential for Zn uptake by plants.…”

“…Because high yielding maize varieties are selected grown, chemical fertilizers are of increased purity and cropping has become increasingly intensive, Zn deficiency in soil-crop system has become more prevalent in last decades (Fageria et al 2002). Zinc applications are reported to increase maize grain yield around world (Harris et al 2007;Hossain et al 2008;Potarzycki and Grzebisz 2009;Singh and Banerjee 1986). In China, nearly half of Chinese farmlands were classified as critical Zn deficient soil (Liu 1996), especially in North China where most of maize crops were planted.…”

“…Meanwhile, Zn application was also an effective strategy of biofortification, which has been well documented to increase grain Zn concentration in wheat and rice (Cakmak 2008;Hossain et al 2008;Shivay et al 2008), but information specific to maize is limited. Recent studies indicated that it's possible to increase Zn concentration in maize grain by either soil Zn application or seed priming with Zn in South Asia (Harris et al 2007;Hossain et al 2008).…”

“…Recent studies indicated that it's possible to increase Zn concentration in maize grain by either soil Zn application or seed priming with Zn in South Asia (Harris et al 2007;Hossain et al 2008).…”

Biofortification of maize grains with micronutrients by enriched biomass of blackcurrant seeds

“…It was shown that cereal crops can suffer from the low content of micronutrients [4]. Micronutrient fertilizers were proved to be a sufficient tool in increasing micronutrient content in grains of rice and wheat [5]. Also biofortification of maize was the aim of many experiments, mainly, because maize constitutes one of the most important cereal crops due to its economic value in livestock nutrition [6].…”