Journal of Applied and Natural Science 10 (1): 448 - 453 (2018) A comparative study of Zn and Fe distribution in two contrasting wheat genotypes Bhupendra Mathpal 1* , Prakash Chandra Srivastava 2 and Shailesh Chandra Shankhdhar 3 1 School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara -144411(Punjab), INDIA 2 Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145 (Uttarakhand), INDIA 3 Department of Plant Physiology, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145 (Uttarakhand), INDIA *Corresponding author. E-mail: bhupendra.20525@lpu.co.in Received: October 23, 2017; Revised received: December 6, 2017; Accepted: February 20, 2018 Abstract: Effect of zinc and iron interaction on their distribution was examined in two wheat genotypes (UP262 and UP2628) under foliar application of 0, 0.25 and 0.50% ZnSO 4 solution tagged with 925 KBq of Zn 65 pot -1 for Zn and 0, 0.5 and 1.0% FeSO 4 solution tagged with 925 KBq of Fe 59 pot -1 for Fe at 30, 60 and 90 days after planting. Maxi- mum grain yield of UP2628 (2.7 g pot -1 ) was recorded at 0.5%ZnSO 4 +0%FeSO 4 while that of UP262 (2.63 g pot -1 ) was recorded at 0.5%ZnSO 4 +1.0%FeSO 4. The highest straw yield of UP2628 (2.75 g pot -1 ) was noted at 0.5% ZnSO 4 +1.0%FeSO 4 while that of UP262 (2.91 g pot -1 ) with 0.5%ZnSO 4 +0.5%FeSO 4. Application of 0.5% and 1.0% FeSO 4 reduced the accumulation of 65 Zn in all parts of both the varieties. Regarding the 59 Fe accumulation, it was found to be decreased with the increased application of ZnSO 4 solution from 0.25% and 0.5% as compared to with- out application of Zn. On comparing translocation efficiencies of both the varieties, UP2628 showed better transloca- tion thus accumulated higher zinc and iron. Therefore, variety UP2628 can be used further for crop improvement programme. Keywords: Foliar application, Fe , Translocation, Wheat, Zn INTRODUCTION Humans require at least 49 nutrients to meet their met- abolic requirements (Prakash et al., 2016). Inadequate consumption of even a single of these nutrient results in adverse metabolic disturbances such as sickness, poor health, impaired development in children, etc. (Welch and Graham, 2004). Populations residing in developing countries consume cereals as primary food components. Poor grain nutritive value of cereals is an important reason for widespread micronutrient malnu- trition among populations eating rice as a staple food (Chandel et al., 2010). Besides, the plant -derived food contains a wide variety of minerals that may have ben- eficial or detrimental effects on human health and well being. Of the 17 micronutrients, the deficiencies of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) alone in human foods affect a large proportion of the world’s population (Shahzad et al., 2014). The key reasons for human mineral malnu- trition are the relatively low content of Fe and Zn in plant based foods in combination with the abundance of antinutrient compounds that severely reduce their bioavailability (Ghandilyan et al., 2006). The main soil factors responsible for causing micronu- trients deficiency in staple food crops are low content of nutrient itself, soil pH, high content of calcite, a high concentration of bicarbonate ions and salts, high level of available phosphorus and interaction with an- other nutrient element (Mathpal et al., 2015). The criti- cal value of Zn to occur its deficiency in soil was found in the range of 0.6 ppm to 2.0 ppm depending upon extraction method (Singh et al., 2005) while for Fe it was reported 3.4 mg kg -1 (Elgala et al., 2008). Interactions among micronutrients affect their uptake, distribution, and utilization in plants (Imtiaz et al., 2003). Many studies have examined these interactive effects, especially between Fe and Zn. These studies showed antagonism between Fe and Zn in soybean (Sliman, 1990). Other studies reported that Fe reduces Mn concentration in Indian mustard (Hamlin et al., 2008) and in soybean leaves (Izaguirre-Mayoral et al., 2005), but increases Mn concentration in soybean shoots (Heenan and Campbell, 1983). Other studies reported a negative correlation between Zn and Cu (Kumar et al., 2009) and a negative correlation was reported between Zn and Fe in wheat (Ai-Qing et al., 2011). As cereals are the major food source for humans, therefore an attempt has been made through present investigation to evaluate the translocation pattern and accumulation of 65 Zn and 59 Fe in two contrasting ISSN : 0974-9411 (Print), 2231-5209 (Online) | journals.ansfoundation.org This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). © 2018: Author (s). Publishing rights @ ANSF.