Abstract
Deficiency of Zn in human diet is an emerging health issue in many developing countries across the globe. Agronomic Zn biofortification using diverse Zn fertilization options is being advised for enhancing Zn concentration in the edible portion of rice.A field study was carried out to find out the Zn fertilization effects on biofortification of basmati rice and nutrient use efficiencies in the Himalayan foothills region. Amongst the Zn nutrition treatments, 4.0% Zn-coated urea (ZnCU) + 0.2% Zn foliar spray (FS) using ZnSO4·7H2O recorded the highest grain (3.46 t/ha) and straw (7.93 t/ha) yield of basmati rice. On average, the rice productivity increase due to ZnCU application was ~25.4% over Commercial Urea. Likewise, the same Zn fertilization treatment also resulted in the maximum Zn (35.93 and 81.64 mg/kg) and N (1.19 and 0.45%) concentration in grain and straw of rice, respectively. Moreover, N use efficiency (NUE) was also highest when ZnCU was applied at 4.0% (ZnSO4·7H2O) in comparison to soil application. From the grain quality viewpoint, Zn ferti-fortification had significant effect on elongation ratio and protein concentration of grain only and respective Zn fertilization treatment recorded highest quality parameters 1.90 and 7.44%, respectively. Therefore, ZnCU would be an important low-cost and useful strategy for enhancing yield, NUE and biofortification, and also in minimizing the Zn malnutrition related challenges in human diet in many developing economies.
Highlights
Almost half of the humanity subsists, partially or wholly, on rice (Oryza sativa L.)crop and 90% of it is being cultivated and consumed in Asia [1,2,3]
Earlier studies have shown that the soil Zn deficiency is a well-documented problem which is one of the leading factor of crop productivity reduction as it results in a significant penalty in plant performance, reported in several crops in countries such as India, China, Pakistan and Australia [21,62] and Zn applications had significant positive effects on growth and development of plants leading to increased yield attributes and culminating in improved biomass of agronomical crops such as rice [21,23,26,63], wheat [64,65,66,67]
Based on the present findings, it may be concluded that Zn biofortification via Zn-coated urea (ZnCU)
Summary
Almost half of the humanity subsists, partially or wholly, on rice (Oryza sativa L.)crop and 90% of it is being cultivated and consumed in Asia [1,2,3]. Rice grains are inherently poor in both protein and Zn content and their bioavailability is low as well [5,6]. Rice products contribute ~70% to the per day calorie intake of the rural world, leading to Zn malnutrition mainly owing to low Zn content in rice grains. Sustainability 2022, 14, 104 severely [7], ranging from 4 to 73% of the population in different nations [8] and ~90% of these are inhabitants of Africa and Asia [9]. An inadequate supply of Zn has caused severe human-health-related complexities such aschildhood dwarfism, abnormal brain development, increased susceptibility to various infectious diseases, low learning ability, DNA damage, reduced physical work productivity and pregnancy related ailments [13,14,15,16,17]. The research thrust on enhancing grain Zn concentrations in rice is obligatory to overcome Zn-related malnutrition, in the developing world [20,21]
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