PJB-2019-827
RESPONSE OF BIOFORTIFIED AND NON-BIOFORTIFIED WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) VARIETIES TO ZINC NUTRITION
Dr. Sibgha Noreen
Abstract
Zinc is a vital plant micronutrient which promote a number of plant physiological, biochemical and metabolic processes. An experiment was conducted to quantify the response of biofortified and non-biofortified Varieties to zinc nutrition. The treatments were consisted of (a) three wheat varieties [‘Zincol-2016’ (biofortified high zinc wheat), and ‘Galaxy-2013’ and ‘Punjab-2011’ (non-biofortified conventional Varieties') and (b) four zinc fertilizer spray solutions (0, 0.3%, 0.6%, 0.9% ZnSO4.7H2O)], (c) CRD with 4 replicas. 0.3% Zn solution foliar spray caused a significant increased biological yield of variety ‘Zincol-2016’ compared to other varieties. The biofortified wheat Zincol-2016 maintained higher chlorophyll content 20% to 26% over non-biofortified variety ‘Galaxy-2013’. It also accumulates higher contents of soluble sugars, free amino acids and TSP as compared to ‘Galaxy-2013’ and ‘Punjab-2011’. The quantity of Zn enhanced significantly in grains yield. The variety ‘Zincol-2016’ maintained 40 mg Zn kg-1 compared to 29 mg Zn kg-1 and 27 mg Zn kg-1 by varieties ‘Galaxy-2013’ and ‘Punjab-2011’, respectively. The foliar spray of Zn enhanced grain yield by 36% over unsprayed crop. The variety ‘Zincol-2016’ produced significantly high grain yield by 29.6% over varieties ‘Punjab-2011’ and ‘Galaxy-2013’. Furthermore, grain yield was improved significantly by exogenous application of Zn especially @ 0.6% Zn solution in all three wheat verities. It is concluded from this study that grain Zn can be improved by aerial spray of 0.6% Zn solution.
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