Aiqing Zhao

Comparison of soil and foliar zinc application for enhancing grain zinc content of wheat when grown on potentially zinc‐deficient calcareous soils

BACKGROUND The concentration of Zn and phytic acid in wheat grain has important implications for human health. We conducted field and greenhouse experiments to compare the efficacy of soil and foliar Zn fertilisation in improving grain Zn concentration and bioavailability in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain grown on potentially Zn-deficient calcareous soil. RESULTS Results from the 2-year field experiment indicated that soil Zn application increased soil DTPA-Zn by an average of 174%, but had no significant effect on grain Zn concentration. In contrast, foliar Zn application increased grain Zn concentration by an average of 61%, and Zn bioavailability by an average of 36%. Soil DTPA-Zn concentrations varied depending on wheat cultivars. There were also significant differences in grain phytic acid concentration among the cultivars. A laboratory experiment indicated that Zn (from ZnSO4 ) had a low diffusion coefficient in this calcareous soil. CONCLUSION Compared to soil Zn application, foliar Zn application is more effective in improving grain Zn content of wheat grown in potentially Zn-deficient calcareous soils.

Effect of soil and foliar zinc application on zinc concentration and bioavailability in wheat grain grown on potentially zinc-deficient soil

Three field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of soil Zn, foliar Zn, and soil N application on Zn and phytic acid concentrations in wheat grain grown on potentially Zn-deficient soil. Results showed significant genotypic variation in grain Zn concentrations among fifteen wheat cultivars commonly grown in northwest China. Soil Zn application had mixed effects, increasing grain Zn concentrations of some cultivars by as much as 21%, but reducing grain Zn concentrations of other cultivars by as much as 14%. In comparison, foliar Zn application increased grain Zn concentrations by 26 to 115%. Grain Zn concentrations were 14% larger in the combined (foliar Zn + soil Zn) treatment compared to the foliar Zn treatment, but the added cost of soil Zn application may not be economically justifiable. Wheat grain phytic acid concentrations and phytic acid: Zn molar ratios were less in the foliar Zn and (foliar Zn + soil Zn) treatments compared to the soil Zn and the unfertilized treatments. This indica...

Effects of Combined Phosphorus-Zinc Fertilization on Grain Zinc Nutritional Quality of Wheat Grown on Potentially Zinc-Deficient Calcareous Soil

Abstract A 2-year field experiment was conducted (i) to study the effect of combined P and Zn fertilization on the Zn nutritional quality of wheat grown on potentially Zn-deficient calcareous soil and (ii) to identify which soil Zn fraction had the greatest effect on grain Zn concentration. Results showed that Zn fertilization increased grain Zn concentrations by 13% in 2006–2007 and 15% in 2007–2008. However, the application of 200 kg P2O5 ha−1 combined with Zn fertilizer reduced grain Zn concentrations by 38% in 2006–2007 and 17% in 2007–2008 compared with the control (no fertilizer treatment). The phytic acid (PA) concentration and the PA:Zn molar ratio in wheat grain increased as P fertilizer application rate increased, regardless of the Zn fertilizer application rate. Zinc fertilization alone increased diethyltriaminepentaacetic acid–Zn by 220% in 2006–2007 and 470% in 2007–2008 compared with the no Zn fertilizer treatment. The combined application of P and Zn also increased diethyltriaminepentaacetic acid–Zn and loose organic matter–bound Zn, but the increase became smaller as the P fertilizer application rate increased. In conclusion, P fertilizer application rates to the potentially Zn-deficient calcareous soil used in this study should be less than 100 kg P2O5 ha−1 to ensure the efficacy of the Zn fertilizer. Among the soil Zn fractions in this study, loose organic matter–bound Zn had the greatest correlation with grain Zn concentration.

Application of ZnSO4 or Zn-EDTA fertilizer to a calcareous soil: Zn diffusion in soil and its uptake by wheat plants

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of two Zn sources and two application methods on (i) Zn diffusion from fertilized soil to unfertilized soil, (ii) grain Zn concentration and (iii) grain Zn bio-accessibility to humans. In the laboratory experiment, 20 mg ZnSO4 or 4 mg Zn-EDTA were applied to a 5 mm and 1 mm-wide space in the soil in the half-cell technique. In the greenhouse experiment, Zn-ZnSO4 or Zn-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Zn-EDTA) was mixed or banded with the soil at a rate of 20 or 4 mg Zn kg(-1) , respectively. RESULTS The results from the diffusion experiment showed that both the extractability and the diffusion coefficient of Zn were higher when Zn fertilizer was applied to a 1 mm-wide space than when it was applied to a 5 mm-wide space. Zn-EDTA had a greater diffusion distance than ZnSO4 . The greenhouse experiment showed that the mixed ZnSO4 application and the Zn-EDTA application (both mixed and banded) treatments significantly increased grain Zn concentration and bio-accessibility. The positive effect of Zn-EDTA on grain Zn concentrations and bio-accessibility was greater than that of ZnSO4 . The banded application reduced the effectiveness of ZnSO4 but not of Zn-EDTA. CONCLUSION It was concluded that Zn-EDTA was a better Zn source than ZnSO4 for increasing grain Zn content in a potentially Zn-deficient calcareous soil.

Effect of Straw Amendment on Soil Zn Availability and Ageing of Exogenous Water-Soluble Zn Applied to Calcareous Soil

Organic matter plays a key role in availability and transformation of soil Zn (zinc), which greatly controls Zn concentrations in cereal grains and human Zn nutrition level. Accordingly, soils homogenized with the wheat straw (0, 12 g straw kg-1) and Zn fertilizer (0, 7 mg Zn kg-1) were buried and incubated in the field over 210 days to explore the response of soil Zn availability and the ageing of exogenous Zn to straw addition. Results indicated that adding straw alone scarcely affected soil DTPA-Zn concentration and Zn fractions because of the low Zn concentration of wheat straw and the high soil pH, and large clay and calcium carbonate contents. However, adding exogenous Zn plus straw increased the DTPA-Zn abundance by about 5-fold and had the similar results to adding exogenous Zn alone, corresponding to the increased Zn fraction loosely bounded to organic matter, which had a more dominant presence in Zn reaction than soil other constituents such as carbonate and minerals in calcareous soil. The higher relative amount of ineffective Zn (~50%) after water soluble Zn addition also occurred, and at the days of 120–165 and 180–210when the natural temperature and rainfall changed mildly, the ageing process of exogenous Zn over time was well evaluated by the diffusion equation, respectively. Consequently, combining crop residues with exogenous water soluble Zn application is promising strategy to maximize the availability of Zn in calcareous soil, but the higher ageing rate of Zn caused by the higher Zn mobility should be considered.

Effect of Zn supplementation on Zn concentration of wheat grain and Zn fractions in potentially Zn-deficient soil

To investigate the effect of Zn fertilization on soil Zn fractions and grain Zn concentration in wheat grown on potentially Zn-deficient soil, a field experiment was carried out. The experimental design was split plot consisted of two varieties of wheat (Zhengmai 9023 and Xinong 889) with five Zn levels (0, 7.5, 15, 30 and 45 kg Zn/ha). Results showed that Zn fertilization had no significant effect on wheat yield and grain Zn concentration, and the recovery of Zn fertilizer was only 0.06% to 0.29%. However, the amount of soil DTPA-Zn was increased by 2.3-9.8-folds as Zn supplementation increases during the whole wheat growth stage as compared to the control (Zn0 treatment). Besides, DTPA-Zn was positively correlated with both Loose organic matter bound Zn (LOM-Zn) and Exchange Zn (Ex-Zn), and their partial correlation coefficients were 0.558 and 0.119, respectively. Moreover, these two fractions also showed positive correlation with grain Zn concentration. The amount of LOM-Zn was firstly increased with i...