Deciphering the sulphur assimilation pathway in biofortified wheat and its relationship to zinc transport
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Date
2019
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
The present field research entitled “Deciphering the sulphur assimilation pathway in biofortified wheat and its relationship to zinc transport” was conducted in split-split plot design during rabi seasons of 2017-18 and 2018-19. The main plot treatments were- control (no zinc) and high zinc conditions, where soil application of ZnSO4 was done at sowing. The wheat cultivars PBW 1Zn and PBW 725 acted as sub plots. The sub-sub plot treatments include: i) Control, ii) foliar application of 0.5% ZnSO4, iii) foliar application of sulphur (S) @ 0.06%, iv) soil application of S at sowing followed by foliar S application same as (iii). Foliar application of chemicals in different treatments was done at earing and milking stage of crop. Rate of S application (in soil and foliar spray) was given as per S dose provided by ZnSO4 in present agronomic biofortified trail. Soil Zn application did not affect emergence count/m2 and percent moisture content of wheat crop at earlier growth stages. But there was a significant increase in cysteine content, Zn and S concentration of flag leaf and other tissues (peduncle and developing grain) at earing and milking stage under high Zn condition than the control. Among the varieties, PBW 1Zn had higher concentration of cysteine, Zn and S than PBW 725. In contrast to Zn, Fe concentration was found to be declined under high Zn conditions on significant basis. Further genetically biofortified PBW 1Zn exhibited significantly low Fe content than PBW 725 at periodic intervals. High soil Zn conditions and 0.5% foliar Zn spray was found to enhance grain yield by 4-11%. Among varieties, grain yield was significantly higher in PBW 725 which was due to more number of tillers and 1000 grain weight. Highest grain Zn content was observed in PBW 1Zn with 0.5% foliar ZnSO4 spray under high Zn conditions. Biochemical analysis in present study clearly showed that 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar treatment had higher Zn contents in flag leaf, peduncle and developing grain at successive stages of grain development and was also be able to enhance grain Zn significantly than other foliar treatment. Although soil S + foliar S application or foliar S alone had lower grain Zn than 0.5% ZnSO4 treatment; but this was significantly higher than control plants. Moreover increment in Fe content of developing grain with soil S + foliar S was significantly higher than 0.5% ZnSO4 and control plots. Non-significant differences were observed for quality parameters such as grain hardness, gluten content, gluten index under different soil Zn conditions. The variety PBW 725 had significantly higher gluten content than PBW 1Zn. Although the later variety contained more grain Zn than PBW 725. Present research clearly depicted an antagonistic crosstalk between Fe and Zn uptake and their translocation in biofortified wheat which modifies upon interaction with sulphur supply.
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