Assessing the Effectiveness of Zn Acetate and Oxide as Alternatives for Corn and Soybean Seed Treatment in Sandy and Clay Soil

Matheus Gomes Nirschl,Eduardo Zavaschi,Rafael Otto,Risely Ferraz De Almeida,Lílian Angélica Moreira,Godofredo César Vitti

doi:10.5539/jas.v9n12p63

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) is the micronutrient with the lowest availability in agricultural soils, and consequently 50 % of the world’s soils present Zn deficient. To test the viability of alternative Zn sources (Zn acetate and Zn oxide) to corn and soybean seed treatments, we ran an experiment using these two alternatives at contrasting application rates (0; 0.25; 0.50; 0.76 and 1.01 g kg-1) applied to soybean and corn seeds that were subsequently sowed in sandy and clay soils. We measured: Zn accumulation, dry matter and germination, and analyzed this data using uni (LSD-test) and multivariate analysis (Principal Component Analysis, PCA). Results of the PCA showed that the sandy soil yielded higher dry matter and Zn accumulation than the clay soil. The corn provided higher dry matter while the soybean showed enhanced Zn accumulation and germination. The LSD test showed that corn presented positive Zn accumulation in response to Zn rates in both sandy and clay soil. For soybeans, this effect was only observed in sandy soil, while the clay soil presented decreases in dry matter and germination due to Zn rates. Overall, our findings reveal that both Zn acetate and Zn oxide are viable alternatives for supplying Zn to corn seed treatment in sandy and clay soil, and to soybean seed treatment in sandy soil. We suggest that more research should be undertaken to understand the response of soybean seed treatments to Zn supply, especially in clay soil.

Highlights

Zinc (Zn) is widely considered to be the micronutrient with the lowest availability in agricultural soils (Alloway, 2011), and 50 % of the world’s agricultural soils have been classified as Zn low level (Fageria et al, 2002)
With respect to plant metabolism, Zn plays an essential role in nitrogen metabolism (Faquin, 2005), and enzymatic activation (Dechen & Nachtigall, 2006; Nonogaki et al, 2010), which are in turn strongly related to crop development and the resulting productivity of grain and cereal crops (Fageria et al, 2002), and the Zn causes decrease in radicular development
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was able to identify differences between the soils through the formation of two distinct groups (Figure 2), with the main difference observed for dry matter and Zn accumulation in sandy soil, which provided a significant increase of 50 % and 70 % compared to clay soil (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Zinc (Zn) is widely considered to be the micronutrient with the lowest availability in agricultural soils (Alloway, 2011), and 50 % of the world’s agricultural soils have been classified as Zn low level (Fageria et al, 2002). Zn is found within the soil superficies due to its low mobility and strong relationship with organic matter (Dechen & Nachtigall, 2006) and clay present in the soil (Alloway, 2011). Zn fertilization of seeds has been shown to improve crop productivity, seed germination and plant growth (Nonogaki et al, 2010), which presents advantages in terms of application uniformity and small rates with precision (Lopes & Souza, 2001), and can be considered the best alternative to Zn fertilization (Boneccarrére et al, 2004; Ribeiro et al, 1994). The seed treatment efficiency should be tested according to the seed characteristics, Zn application rates and sources

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Conclusion