Biofortification of Wheat Cultivars to Combat Zinc Deficiency

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) deficiency caused by inadequate dietary intake is a global nutritional problem, particularly in developing countries. Therefore, zinc biofortification of wheat and other cereal crops is being urgently addressed and highly prioritized as a research topic. A field study was planned to evaluate the influence of zinc application on grain yield, grain zinc content, and grain phytic acid concentrations of wheat cultivars, and the relationships between these parameters. Three wheat cultivars, C1 = Faisalabad-2008, C2 = Punjab-2011, and C3 = Millet-2011 were tested with five different methods of zinc application: T1 = control, T2 = seed priming, T3 = soil application, T4 = foliar application, and T5 = soil + foliar application. It was found that grain yield and grain zinc were positively correlated, whereas, grain phytic acid and grain zinc were significantly negatively correlated. Results also revealed that T5, T3, and T4 considerably increased grain yield; however, T2 only slightly enhanced grain yield. Grain zinc concentration increased from 33.1 and 33.7 mg kg−1 in T1 to 62.3 and 63.1 mg kg−1 in T5 in 2013–2014 and 2014–2015, respectively. In particular, T5 markedly decreased grain phytic acid content; however, maximum concentration was recorded in T1. Moreover, all the tested cultivars exhibited considerable variation in grain yield, grain zinc, and grain phytic acid content. In conclusion, T5 was found to be most suitable for both optimum grain yield and grain biofortification of wheat.

Winter Wheat Grain Quality, Zinc and Iron Concentration Affected by a Combined Foliar Spray of Zinc and Iron Fertilizers

“…Foliar application of nutrients is an important crop management strategy to maximize crop yields and concentrations of micronutrients in edible parts. Several studies have demonstrated that foliar application of micronutrients, including Zn and Fe, showed good behavior in increasing their concentration in wheat grain [27,[48][49][50][51][52]. However, little is known about the effect of combined Zn and Fe on the quality of this wheat grain.…”

Breeding and agronomic approaches for the biofortification of zinc in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to combat zinc deficiency in millions of a population: a Bangladesh perspective

“…However, the Zn-enriched grain did have a lower phytic acid content than in the grains with lower Zn content (Fig. 3C,D) [83].…”

“…2). Maximum improvements in grain yield of 24.3% and 24.1%, and for Zn concentrations a maximum increase of 50.1% and 46.6% were recorded when Zn was applied in soil + foliar in both years, respectively, whereas the minimum improvement in grain yield was recorded for the zero-Zn plot [83]. Therefore, soil + foliar application of Zn appears to be an excellent strategy to increase grain Zn concentrations.…”

“…The lowest grain yield and grain Zn concentrations were recorded in 'Faisalabad-2008' (Fig. 2) [83].…”

“…However, there is a significant positive correlation between grain yield and grain Zn of different wheat genotypes due to the application of different levels of Zn [83]. A 2-year study (Fig.…”