Agronomic biofortification of chickpea with zinc and iron through application of zinc and urea

ABSTRACT

Zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) deficiency-related health problems in humans may be solved by improving their concentration in edible grains. The study, conducted in 2015–16 and 2016–17, investigated the effects of soil and foliar application of Zn and foliar application of urea on grain Zn and Fe accumulation of chickpea grains. Soil application of ZnSO₄ @ 25 kg ha⁻¹ + foliar spray of ZnSO₄ @ 0.5% at flowering and pod formation stages resulted in the highest Zn (45.06 & 44.69 mg Zn kg⁻¹ grain in the first and second year of study) and Fe (59.74 & 62.88 mg Fe kg⁻¹ grain) content. Urea application @ 2% at flowering and pod formation stages also resulted in the highest grain Zn (41.12 & 40.26 mg Zn kg⁻¹ grain) and Fe (58.95 & 61.95 mg Fe kg⁻¹ grain) content. Grain yield and protein content were significantly increased over control with these treatments. As compared to the sole application of Zn, the combined use of Zn and urea improved the grain Zn and Fe contents. Zinc and urea can be applied to improve Zn and Fe content in chickpea grains and, therefore, can help in ameliorating malnutrition in burgeoning human population.

KEYWORDS:

• Zinc
• iron
• biofortification
• grain
• protein content

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India for providing necessary facilities during the research work.