Screening of wheat cultivars and fertifortification with zinc, manganese and iron in low fertility soils of Punjab

Screening of wheat cultivars and fertifortification with zinc, manganese and iron in low fertility soils of Punjab

The present investigation was carried out for two consecutive years (2008-09 and 2009-10) at research farm of Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana on a loamy sand soil (Typic Ustochrept) to enrich wheat grains with Zn, Mn and Fe through foliar application. Six wheat cultivars viz. V1-PBW 343, V2-PBW 550, V3-PBW 17, V4-PDW 233, V5-PDW 274 and V6-PDW 291 were selected including durum and aestivum cultivars. Four foliar sprays @ 0.5 per cent each of Zn, Mn and Fe were applied starting from maximum tillering, flower initiation milk and dough stages. It was revealed that foliar application of Zn, Mn and Fe increased the grain yield in wheat. The aestivum cultivars reported higher grain yield compared to durum cultivars. This study indicates that 17.3- 38.8 % enrichment with Zn and 13.1-30.3 % with Fe is possible through foliar application Foliar application of 0.5% each of Zn and Fe separately at different stages of wheat growth significantly increased the grain yield of wheat. All the wheat varieties showed significant increase in Zn and Fe concentrations over control.