Amin Abbasi

Given the extent of zinc deficiency in the Iranian soils and human society, biofortification of wheat and other highly consumed foods with zinc content is one of the major challenges to lower zinc deficiency in plant communities and consequently in human societies. Accordingly, in this study, a factorial experiment was performed with 3 replications using a randomized complete block design to assess zinc biofortification impact on wheat. The study factors included the 2 cultivars of Shiroodi and Arta spring wheat and 7 zinc sulfate fertilizer treatments consisting of control (no spraying), spraying of 0.5% zinc sulfate in the booting stage, spraying of 0.5% zinc sulfate plus urea in the booting stage, spraying of 0.5% zinc sulfate in the milky stage, spraying of 0.5% zinc sulfate plus urea in the milky stage, spraying of 0.5% zinc sulfate in the dough stage, and spraying of 0.5% zinc sulfate plus urea in the dough stage of the grain conducted in the research field of College of Agriculture, University of Maragheh. The results obtained showed that spraying of zinc sulfate increased thousand kernel weight, economic yield, harvest index in the milky, and grain zinc concentration in the booting stage, while Arta cultivar was further affected by the spraying compared to Shiroodi cultivar. Thus, from this experiment, it is concluded that spraying wheat with zinc sulfate can lead to improved yield and enhanced zinc concentration of the grain.