Potential Zinc Uptake of Different Wheat Cultivars Grown Under Calcareous Soil Conditions of Dera Ismail Khan Pakistan

Zinc deficiency caused by inadequate dietary intake is a pervasive nutritional problem across the globe. Therefore, increasing zinc levels in wheat and other cereal crops through biofortification has become a serious concern and a top priority research. A field experiment was conducted in Department of Soil Science, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan Pakistan. The objectives were to evaluate the effect of zinc (Zn) on the growth, yield and yield contributing traits of wheat and to find out the best variety of wheat for yield maximization. Five wheat varieties, V1: AZRC, V2: Gulzar, V3: PS-15, V4: Fakhr e Bhakkar and V5: Wadan-17 were tested at 7.5 kg ha-1 zinc application. The treatments were arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications. The basal dose of NPK at the rate of 120: 60: 40 kg ha-1 respectively, was applied to all varieties. The result of study showed that Gulzar and AZRC variety resulted maximum plant height (81.67 and 79.67cm), number of tillers (407.67 and 383), spike length (12.02 and 11.36 cm), number of spikelets per spike (24.66 and 22.66), number of grains per spike (59.67 and 58.11), 1000 grain weight (51.31 and 48.01 g), biological yield (16.73 and 15.67 t ha-1), Straw yield (9.73 and 9.52 t ha-1) and harvest index (41.78 and 39.23 %), respectively. Similarly, chlorophyll content, protein content and zinc uptake by plant was recorded maximum in Gulzar and AZRC as 2.82 and 2.68, 11.91 and 11.72 %, 30.49 and 29.13 5 mg ka-1, respectively. All traits of wheat recorded lowest in PS-15. Thus, agronomic biofortification is the best way to enrich wheat grains with zinc for human consumption. In conclusion, Gulzar and AZRC were found to be most suitable for both optimum grain yield and grain biofortification of wheat.