Open Access

ARTICLE

Application of Zinc, Iron and Boron Enhances Productivity and Grain Biofortification of Mungbean

Muhammad Zafar¹, Siraj Ahmed¹, Muhammad Kashif Munir¹, Nawal Zafar¹, Muhammad Saqib¹, Muhammad Aleem Sarwar², Saba Iqbal¹, Baber Ali³, Naveed Akhtar¹, Basharat Ali^4,*, Sadam Hussain^5,*, Muhammad Saeed⁶, Mohammad Khalid Al-Sadoon⁷, Aneela Gulnaz⁸

1 Agronomic Research Institute, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan
2 Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan
3 Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan
4 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, 64200, Pakistan
5 College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China
6 Plant Pathology Research Institute, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan
7 Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
8 Department of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38641, Korea

* Corresponding Authors: Basharat Ali. Email: ; Sadam Hussain. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Physiological and Molecular Interventions in Improving Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(4), 983-999. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2023.025813

Received 01 August 2022; Accepted 12 September 2022; Issue published 06 January 2023

Abstract

Deficiencies of essential vitamins, iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) affect over one-half of the world’s population. A significant progress has been made to control micronutrient deficiencies through supplementation, but new approaches are needed, especially to reach the rural poor. Agronomic biofortification of pulses with Zn, Fe, and boron (B) offers a pragmatic solution to combat hidden hunger instead of food fortification and supplementation. Moreover, it also has positive effects on crop production as well. Therefore, we conducted three separate field experiments for two consecutive years to evaluate the impact of soil and foliar application of the aforementioned nutrients on the yield and seed biofortification of mungbean. Soil application of Zn at 0, 4.125, 8.25, Fe at 0, 2.5, 5.0 and B at 0, 0.55, 1.1 kg ha⁻¹ was done in the first, second and third experiment, respectively. Foliar application in these experiments was done at 0.3% Zn, 0.2% Fe and 0.1% B respectively one week after flowering initiation. Data revealed that soil-applied Zn, Fe and B at 8.25, 5.0 and 1.1 kg ha⁻¹, respectively, enhanced the grain yield of mungbean; however, this increase in yield was statistically similar to that recorded with Zn, Fe and B at 4.125, 2.5 and 0.55 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. Foliar application of these nutrients at flower initiation significantly enhanced the Zn contents by 28% and 31%, Fe contents by 80% and 78%, while B contents by 98% and 116% over control during 2019 and 2020, respectively. It was concluded from the results that soil application of Zn, Fe, and B enhanced the yield performance of mungbean; while significant improvements in seed Zn, Fe, and B contents were recorded with foliar application of these nutrients.

---

Keywords

---