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

Abstract

Our daily diet is largely contributed by cereals, which have low genetic abilities to amasshigher concentrations of micronutrients in their grains. Hence, wide spread deficienciesiron, zinc and other essential nutrients have prevailed. Present study focuses the biofortification of Zn in wheat grains, taking advantage of nutrient-nutrient synergy betweenZn and N. Three wheat genotypes (NIA-Amber, BWQ-4 and SD-998) were tested in a fieldexperiment 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 incombination with three levels of Zn (0, 5 & 10 kg ha-1). Outcomes of the experimentrevealed that NIA-Amber had the highest grain yield of 6.03 tons/ha against 150 kg N ha-1and 10 kg Zn ha-1. Maximum Zn contents of 447.86, 429.56 and 395.56 g ha-1 wereobserved in BWQ-4, SD-998 and NIA-Amber at 180 kg N ha-1 in combination with 10 kg Znha-1. Maximum enhancement in protein contents was observed in BWQ-4 (743 kg ha-1) at180 kg N ha-1and combined with 5 kg Zn ha-1. For NIA-Amber, 180 kg N ha-1 incombination of 10 kg Zn ha-1 proved the most suitable in terms of Zn concentration andother quality attributes. Nitrogen @ 180 kg N ha-1 with 5 kg Zn ha-1 depicted appreciablezinc and protein contents in grains of BWQ-4 and SD-998.