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EVALUATION OF ZN DISTRIBUTION AMONG GRAIN AND STRAW OF TWELVE INDIGENOUS WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) GENOTYPES

*MUHAMMAD AAMER MAQSOOD^1*, RAHMATULLAH¹, SHAMSA KANWAL¹, TARIQ AZIZ² AND MUHAMMAD ASHRAF¹

Abstract: Zinc (Zn) deficiency is widespread in wheat grown on alkaline calcareous soils. A large population of the world as result of this also lacks adequate Zn nutrition. A pot study was conducted on Pindorian series (Udic Haplustalf) to evaluate the distribution of Zn in grain and straw of 12 indigenous wheat genotypes. Zinc was applied @ 6mg Zn kg^-1 soil as ZnSO₄.7H₂O. Various fertilizer doses were imposed in triplicate according to complete randomized design. All 72 pots received uniform dose of 60 mg N kg^-1 soil as urea, 60 mg P kg^-1 as monoammonium phosphate and 30 mg K kg^-1 soil as K₂SO₄. Plant tops were harvested 30 days after sowing. There was a significant (P<0.05) main and interactive effect of wheat genotypes and zinc application on grain and straw yield, Zn concentration and total uptake of Zn by wheat plants. Sehar-06 produced maximum grain and straw yield whereas Iqbal-2000 produced minimum grain and straw yield. The genotypes Sehar-06, Shafaq-06 and SARC-1 were able to retain more Zn in grain compared to straw. However, further verification of the results is warranted under field conditions.

¹Institute of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad,

²Depalpur Sub-Campus, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.