Bio-fortification of iron and zinc improves the biomass, uptake, distribution and yield of different maize varieties

Abstract

Different approaches are underway to enrich the crops with nutrients to fulfill the nutrition requirement. This study was performed to investigate the impact of Zn and Fe bio-fortification on different maize varieties. Four maize varieties: V₁ (Pak 2); V₂ (Golden); V₃ (Sultan); V₄ (Pearl) and three treatments: T₁ (control-untreated), T₂ (Iron 7 mg/L as FeSO₄.7H₂O) and T₃ (Zinc 10 mg/L as ZnSO₄.5H₂O) were used. The variety V₂ performed better and produced highest biomass, leaf area, seed yield, total iron (TIC) and zinc concentration (TZC). In case of trace elements, maximum biomass, leaf area and seed yield was observed under T₃. Moreover, highest TIC (62.90 mg kg⁻¹) and TZC (65.80 mg kg⁻¹) was measured with T₂ and T₃, respectively. The highest iron and zinc in stover (33.14 & 33.79 mg kg⁻¹) and grain (29.75 & 32.00 mg kg⁻¹) were determined with T₂ and T₃, respectively. In these experiments, V₂ produced highest net income (NI) (615.02 US $ha⁻¹) and among trace elements, T₃ gave maximum NI (629.83 US $ha⁻¹). Overall, maize varieties with T₃ had 24% higher NI than T₁. As growth, yield and NI were improved with V₂ under T₃, therefore this combination was most effective for maize production.

KEYWORD:

• bio-fortification
• Fe and Zn
• total biomass and seed yield

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.