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Zinc (Zn) concentration of bread wheat grown under Mediterranean conditions as affected by genotype and soil/foliar Zn application

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Abstract

Background and aims

The combination of plant breeding and agronomic biofortification is the most reasonable approach to minimize zinc (Zn) deficiency-related problems in humans, but also in crop production. However, its efficiency and suitability under Mediterranean conditions and its effects on the grain yield and quality parameters are not well known.

Methods

Field experiments were conducted over two years in south-eastern Portugal, where soils are deficient in Zn. Ten advanced breeding lines and three commercial varieties of bread-making wheat were fertilized with four Zn treatments as following: i) control, ii) soil Zn application, iii) foliar Zn application and iv) both soil and foliar Zn application.

Results

Low rainfall produced 46 % more of grain Zn concentration but about 67 % less of grain yield. Grain Zn concentration varied greatly across treatments and cultivars with INIAV-1, INIAV-6, INIAV-9 and the commercial varieties being the most efficient. There were no significant increases in Zn concentrations due to soil Zn application, but gains higher than 20 mg kg−1 were obtained both with foliar and soil+foliar Zn applications. Grain yield was not significantly higher in foliar application, but increased to about 10 % in soil, and about 7 % in soil+foliar applications, respectively.

Conclusions

In soils with low Zn availability, the best strategy to improve grain Zn concentrations has been to select the most efficient cultivars for Zn accumulation with the added application of Zn in soil+foliar form.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ingeniería del Medio Agronómico y Forestal, Escuela de Ingenierías Agrarias, University of Extremadura, Avda. Adolfo Suárez s/n, 06007, Badajoz, Spain

    Francisco Gomez-Coronado & Maria J. Poblaciones

  2. Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Elvas, Portugal

    Francisco Gomez-Coronado & Ana S. Almeida

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ismail Cakmak

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  1. Francisco Gomez-Coronado
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  2. Maria J. Poblaciones
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  3. Ana S. Almeida
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  4. Ismail Cakmak
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Correspondence to Maria J. Poblaciones.

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Gomez-Coronado, F., Poblaciones, M.J., Almeida, A.S. et al. Zinc (Zn) concentration of bread wheat grown under Mediterranean conditions as affected by genotype and soil/foliar Zn application. Plant Soil 401, 331–346 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2758-0

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