Agronomic biofortification of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) with zinc and iron
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Date
2018
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
The investigation entitled, “Agronomic biofortification of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) with zinc and
iron” was conducted at the Research Farm of Pulses Section, Department of Plant Breeding and
Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, during Rabi 2015-16 and 2016-17. The soil of the
experimental site was loamy sand in texture with normal soil reaction and electrical conductivity, low
in organic carbon & available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus, potassium, zinc and iron.
Under the present investigation, three experiments were conducted and laid out in randomized
complete block design replicated three times using the chickpea variety PBG 7. The Experiment I, II
and III were sown on 7th November, 2015 during first year and 8th November, 2016 during second year.
In Experiment I, six zinc application treatments and three urea foliar application treatments were
studied. Experiment II had three iron foliar application treatments and three urea foliar application
treatments. In Experiment III, twelve treatments consisting of zinc, iron or urea foliar application and
their various combinations were studied. The recommended dose of urea @ 40.6 kg ha-1 and single
superphosphate @ 125 kg ha-1 was applied at the time of sowing. The nutrients used for foliar
treatments in the present study were ZnSO4.7H2O (21% Zn), FeSO4.7H2O (19% Fe) and urea (46% N).
In all the experiments 375 litres of water ha-1 was used for each foliar spray. Results revealed that soil
application of ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 at sowing + foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% at flowering and pod
formation stages resulted in the highest growth parameters, symbiotic parameters, yield attributes, grain
yield, net returns, benefit cost ratio, nutrient content and nutrient uptake. The highest concentration of
zinc and iron in chickpea grain was also recorded with the soil application of ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 +
foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% at flowering and pod formation stages (45.1 & 44.7 mg zinc kg-1 and
59.7 & 62.9 mg iron kg-1 in first and second year of study, respectively). In experiment II, foliar spray
of FeSO4 @ 0.5% at flowering and pod formation stages resulted in the highest growth parameters,
symbiotic parameters, yield attributes, grain yield, net returns, benefit cost ratio, nutrient content,
nutrient uptake and the highest concentration of zinc (35.1 & 34.2 mg zinc kg-1) and iron (73.5 & 75.3
mg iron kg-1) in chickpea grain. In experiment III, foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + FeSO4 @ 0.5% +
urea @ 2% (individual as well as tank mix) resulted in the highest growth parameters, symbiotic
parameters, yield attributes, grain yield, net returns, benefit cost ratio, nutrient content and nutrient
uptake. Tank mix application of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% + FeSO4 @ 0.5% + urea @ 2% provided the second
highest content of zinc (44.1 & 43.1 mg zinc kg-1) and iron (71.1 & 73.9 mg iron kg-1) in chickpea
grain and was equally effective in biofortification of chickpea grain as individual application of these
nutrients (45.1 & 45.0 mg zinc kg-1 and 71.4 & 74.2 mg iron kg-1). Therefore, it can be concluded that
these treatments improve the nutrient content in chickpea grain and, therefore, can help in removing the
micronutrient (zinc and iron) malnutrion in humans.
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