Grain Zinc Phytic Acid and Nutrient Uptake in Common Bean is Influenced by Sources and Concentrations of Zinc Fertilization

Abstract

Aim: To study the effect of different sources and levels of zinc fertilization on phytic acid content and nutrient uptake in common beans.
 Design: Randomized complete block design.
 Place and Duration of study: Division of soil science and agricultural chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Sheri Kashmir University of agricultural science and technology, Kashmir, between 2017-2018.
 Methodology: A field experiment was conducted to verify the response of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to the different sources zinc fertilizer. Three different sources of Zinc Viz:- Zinc Sulphate, Zinc Gluconate and Zinc EDTA were used. Each fertilizer was used in three different amounts. Concentration of Zinc, overall zinc uptake, phytic acid, phytic acid Zinc molar ratio and overall nutrient uptake was estimated.
 Results: The data was analyzed using OPSTAT software at P= 0.05. The application of zinc had a positive impact on increase of zinc concentration from 36.6 to 58.2 mg kg-1 in common bean and overall zinc uptake from 0.43 to 1.02 kg ha-1. It was observed that with the increase in levels of zinc there was a decrease in the concentration of phytic acid from 11.92 to 7.8 mg g-1 hence, phytic acid: Zinc molar ratio also decreased from 31.2 to 13.2. There was a positive correlation between nutrient uptake and zinc concentration in beans.
 Conclusion: Application of Zinc significantly increased the overall nutrient uptake of plants except phosphorus. Among all the sources, Zinc EDTA proved to be most efficient fertilizer followed by zinc Gluconate for enhancing the concentration of zinc and decreasing the concentration of anti- nutritional factor (phytic acid) in beans. Therefore zinc fertilization can be used as an effective method to improve zinc concentration in beans and hence combat zinc deficiency.