Abstract
A two-year field experiment with a split-split plot design was conducted to investigate the effects of soil N(0, 120 and 240 kg N·ha−1) and foliar Zn applications at different growth stages (jointing, flowering, early grain filling, and late grain filling) on Zn translocation and utilization efficiency in winter wheat grown on potentially Zn-deficient soil. Our results showed that foliar Zn application at the early grain filling stage significantly increased the Zn concentration in the grain (by 82.9% compared to control) and the Zn utilization efficiency (by 49% compared to jointing). The Zn concentration in the straw consistently increased with the timing of the foliar Zn application and was highest at late grain filling. However, the timing of the Zn application had little effect on Zn uptake in the grain and straw. A high N supply significantly increased the Zn concentration in and uptake by grain and straw, but it had little effect on the efficiency of Zn utilization. Consequently, a foliar Zn application at early grain filling causes Zn to re-translocate into grain from vegetative tissues, resulting in highly nutritional wheat grain. Finally, these practices improved the efficiency of Zn utilization in winter wheat and led to Zn-enriched straw, which may contribute to Zn recycling if it is returned to the field. The results also indicated that N nutrition is a critical factor in both the concentration and translocation of Zn in wheat.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Andreini, C., Banci, L., Rosato, A. 2006. Zinc through the three domains of life. J. Proteome Res. 5:3173–3178.
Black, R.E., Lindsay, H.A., Bhutta, Z.A., Caulfield, L.E., De Onnis, M., Ezzati, M., Mathers, C., Rivera, J. 2008. Maternal and child under nutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences. Lancet 371:243–260.
Broadley, M.R., White, P.J., Hammond, J.P., Zelko, I., Lux, A. 2007. Zinc in plants. New Phytol. 173:677–702.
Cakmak, I. 2008. Enrichment of cereal grains with zinc: Agronomic or genetic biofortification? Plant Soil 302:1–17.
Cakmak, I., Kalayci, M., Ekiz, H., Braun, H.J., Kilinc, Y., Yilmaz, A. 1999. Zinc deficiency as a practical problem in plant and human nutrition in Turkey: A NATO-science for stability project. Field Crops Res. 60:175–188.
Cakmak, I., Kalayci, M., Kaya, Y., Torun, A.A., Aydin, N., Wang, Y., Arisoy, Z., Erdem, H., Yazici, A., Gokmen, O., Ozturk, L., Horst, W.J. 2010a. Biofortification and localization of zinc in wheat grain. J. Agric. Food Chem. 58:9092–9102.
Cakmak, I., Pfeiffer, W.H., McClafferty, B. 2010b. Biofortification of durum wheat with zinc and iron. Cereal Chem. 87:10–20.
Coleman, J.E. 1998. Zinc enzymes. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2:222–234.
Gao, X.P., Lukow, O.M., Grant, C.A. 2012. Grain concentrations of protein, iron and zinc and breadmaking quality in spring wheat as affected by seeding date and nitrogen fertilizer management. J. Geochem. Explor. 121:36–44.
Grewal, H.S., Lu, Z.G., Graham, R.D. 1997. Influence of subsoil zinc on dry matter production, seed yield and distribution of zinc in oil seed rape genotypes differing in zinc efficiency. Plant Soil 192:181–189.
Haslet, B.S., Reid, R.J., Rengel, Z. 2001. Zinc mobility in wheat: Uptake and distribution of zinc applied to leaves or roots. Ann. Bot. 87:379–386.
Hotz, C., Brown, K.H. 2004. Assessment of the risk of zinc deficiency in populations and options for its control. Food Nutr. Bull. 25:94–204.
Huang, D.M. 2003. Ten-year progress on soil testing and formulated fertilization in China. Plant Nutr. Fertilizer Sci. 9:495–499. (in Chinese)
Jiang, W., Struik, P.C., Lingna, J., van Keulen, H., Ming, Z., Stomph, T.J. 2007. Uptake and distribution of root-applied or foliar-applied 65Zn after flowering in aerobic rice. Ann. Appl. Biol. 150:383–391.
Kutman, U.B., Yildiz, B., Ozturk, L., Cakmak, I. 2010. Biofortification of durum wheat with zinc through soil and foliar applications of nitrogen. Cereal Chem. 87:1–9.
Kutman, U.B., Yildiz, B., Cakmak, I. 2011. Effect of nitrogen on uptake, remobilization and partitioning of zinc and iron throughout the development of durum wheat. Plant Soil 342:149–164.
Kutman, U.B., Yildiz, B., Ceylan, Y., Ova, E.A., Cakmak, I. 2012. Contributions of root uptake and remobilization to grain zinc accumulation in wheat depending on post-anthesis zinc availability and nitrogen nutrition. Plant Soil. DOI 10.1007/s11104-012-1300-x
Le, C., Zha, Y., Li, Y., Sun, D., Lu, H., Yin, B. 2010. Eutrophication of lake waters in China: Cost, causes, and control. Environ. Manage 45:662–668.
Lu, X.C., Cui, J., Tian, X.H., Ogunniyi, J.E., Gale, W.J., Zhao, A.Q. 2012a. Effects of zinc fertilization on zinc dynamics in potentially zinc-deficient calcareous soil. Agron. J. 104:963–969.
Lu, X.C., Tian, X.H., Zhao, A.Q., Cui, J., Yang, X.W. 2012b. Effect of Zn supplementation on Zn concentration of wheat grain and Zn fractions in potentially Zn-deficient soil. Cereal Res. Commun. 40:385–395.
Ma, G.S., Jin, Y., Li, Y.P., Zhai, F.Y., Kok, F.J., Jacobsen, E., Yang, X.G. 2008. Iron and zinc deficiencies in China: What is a feasible and cost-effective strategy? Public Health Nutr. 11:632–638.
Martre, P., Porter, J.R., Jamieson, P.D.E. 2003. Modelling grain nitrogen accumulation and protein composition to understand the sink/source regulation of nitrogen remobilization for wheat. Plant Physiol. 133:1959–1967.
Ozturk, L., Yazici, M.A., Yucel, C., Torun, A., Cekic, C., Bagci, A., Ozkan, H., Braun, H.J., Sayers, Z., Cakmak, I. 2006. Concentration and localization of zinc during seed development and germination in wheat. Physiol. Plant 128:144–152.
Palmgren, M.G., Clemens, S., Williams, L.E., Krämer, U., Borg, S., Schjørring, J.K., Sanders, D. 2008. Zinc biofortification of cereals: Problems and solutions. Cell 13:464–473.
Pearson, J.N., Rengel, Z. 1994. Distribution and remobilization of Zn and Mn during grain development in wheat. J. Exp. Bot. 45:1829–1835.
Rengel, Z., Batten, G.D., Crowley, D.E. 1999. Agronomic approaches for improving the micronutrient density in edible portions of field crops. Field Crops Res. 60:27–40.
Rengel, Z., Graham, R.D. 1995. Importance of seed Zn content for wheat growth on Zn-deficient soil. I. Vegetative growth [J]. Plant Soil 173:259–266.
Stein, A.J., Netsel, P., Meenakshi, J.V., Qaim, M., Sachdev, H.P.S., Bhutta, Z.A. 2007. Plant breeding to control zinc deficiency in India: How cost-effective is biofortification? Public Health Nutr. 10:492–501.
Waters, B.M., Grusak, M.A. 2008. Whole-plant mineral partitioning throughout the life cycle in Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes Columbia, Landsberg erecta, Cape Verde Islands, and the mutant line ysllysl3. New Phytol. 177:389–405.
White, P.J., Broadley, M.R. 2009. Biofortification of crops with seven mineral elements often lacking in human diets — iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, selenium and iodine. New Phytol. 182:49–84.
Xue, Y.F., Yue, S.C., Zhang, Y.Q., Cui, Z.L., Chen, X.P., Yang, F.C., Cakmak, I., McGrath, S.P., Zhang, F.S., Zou, C.Q. 2012. Grain and shoot zinc accumulation in winter wheat affected by nitrogen management. Plant Soil 361:153–163.
Yang, X.W., Tian, X.H., Lu, X.C., Gale, W.J., Cao, Y.X. 2011a. Foliar zinc fertilization improves the zinc nutritional value of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 10:14778–14785.
Yang, X.W., Tian, X.H., Gale, W.J., Cao, Y.X., Lu, X.C., Zhao, A.Q. 2011b. Effect of soil and foliar zinc application on zinc concentration and bioavailability in wheat grain grown on potentially zinc-deficient soil. Cereal Res. Commun. 39:535–543.
Yilmaz, A., Ekiz, H., Torun, B., Gultekin, I., Karanlik, S., Bagci, S.A., Cakmak, I. 1997. Effect of different zinc application methods on grain yield and zinc concentration in wheat grown on zinc-deficient calcareous soils in Central Anatolia. J. Plant Nutr. 20:461–471.
Zhao, A.Q., Lu, X.C., Chen, Z.H., Tian, X.H., Yang, X.W. 2011. Zinc fertilization methods on zinc absorption and translocation in wheat. J. Agr. Sci. 3:28–35.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by J. Zhang
Rights and permissions
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Li, M., Yang, X.W., Tian, X.H. et al. Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Foliar Zinc Application at Different Growth Stages on Zinc Translocation and Utilization Efficiency in Winter Wheat. CEREAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS 42, 81–90 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1556/CRC.2013.0042
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/CRC.2013.0042