Influence of Iron Application Methods on Seasonal Variations in Antioxidant Activity of Peanut

Abstract

The influence of foliar and soil applications of iron (Fe) on variations in antioxidant activity of peanut was investigated in a field experiment. For each method, five levels of Fe–ethylenediamine-N,N'-bis (EDDHA) (in the soil application, 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 kg ha⁻¹, and in the foliar application, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 gL⁻¹) were applied. The results revealed that the Fe content of leaves increased significantly by both application methods. In addition, immediately after every spraying of Fe on the leaves, the activities changed significantly: Catalase and peroxidase increased but superoxide dismutase decreased during the growing season. By soil applications, the enzyme activities increased gradually and yet continuously decreased at the last period of the plant growth. For both applications, greater levels of Fe (4 gL⁻¹ and 20 kg Fe-EDDHA ha⁻¹ for sprayed and soil applications, respectively) had more positive effects on the activities of peroxidase and catalase than on superoxide dismutase.

Keywords:

• Antioxidant enzyme
• Arachis hypogaea L.
• iron

Acknowledgments

We thank Mohammad Naghi Safarzadeh Vishkaie, from Azad University, branch of Rasht (Iran), for his great help in conducting the experiment and collecting samples and we acknowledge Alireza Hosseinzadeh Gashti.