THE EFFECT OF ZINC FOLIAR TREATMENT ON ZINC CONCENTRATION AND GRAINQUALITY OF THREE WHEAT VARIETIES

Nedostatak cinka u prehrani ljudi u novije vrijeme postaje globalni problem, posebno u zemljama u razvoju ukojima su žitarice osnova svakodnevne prehrane. Jedna od učinkovitih metoda za povećanje koncentracije cinka uzrnu pšenice je upravo biofortifikacija i to dodatkom cinka u tlo i/ili folijarnim putem. S ciljem utvrđivanjaučinkovitosti različitih oblika cinka u povećanju koncentracije i bioraspoloživosti cinka u zrnu, u ovomistraživanju su folijarno primjenjena dva oblika gnojiva sa cinkom (cinkov sulfat i cink-EDTA) na tri sorte ozimepšenice (Divana, Srpanjka i Simonida). Tretman s oba oblika cinka je uzrokovao značajno povećanjekoncentracije cinka i značajno smanjenje odnosa fitat/cink u zrnu kod svih triju ispitivanih sorti pšenice, pri čemuje tretman sa cinkovim sulfatom značajno više povećao koncentraciju cinka u zrnu nego tretman cink-EDTA. Uzrnu sorti Simonida i Divana je tretman cinkovim sulfatom značajno povećao odnos cink/kadmij što ukazuje na toda je odnos cinka i kadmija u pšenici također uvjetovan sortnim karakteristikama. S obzirom na rezultate,tretman s cinkovim sulfatom se preporučuje kao učinkovita metoda agronomske biofortifikacije za povećanjekoncentracije i bioraspoloživosti cinka u zrnu pšeniceZinc deficiency in the human nutrition in recent years has become a global problem, especially in developing countries where cereals are the basis of daily diets.One effective method for increasing the concentration of zinc in wheat grain is biofortification through the addition of zinc in the soil and/or through the foliar treatment.In order to determine the effectiveness of different methods to increase zinc concentrations and bioavailability in the grain, two types of zinc foliar fertilizers (zinc sulfate and zinc-EDTA) were applied on three winter wheat cultivars (Divana, Srpanjka and Simonida) in this study. In grains of all three tested varieties of wheat treatment with both forms of zinc caused a significant increase in the zinc concentration and significant reduction of the phytate/zinc ratio. However, the treatment with zinc sulphate increased the concentration of zinc in the grain more than the treatment with zinc-EDTA. In the grains of cvs. Simonida and Divana treatment with zinc sulfate significantly increased the zinc/cadmium ratio what indicates that this ratio in wheat is cultivar dependent. Based on the obtained,results, it can be concluded that treatment with zinc sulfate is an effective method of agricultural biofortification to increase the concentration and bioavailability of zinc in wheat grain