Prospective of Use of Phosphorus and Zinc at Tillering and Booting Stages of Rice
Prospective of Use of Phosphorus and Zinc at Tillering and Booting Stages of Rice
Farah Rasheed1*, Ana Aslam1, Muhammad Aftab1, Ghulam Sarwar2, Raheela Naz1, Hina Nazir3, Sadia Sultana1, Amina Kalsom1, Nisa Mukhtar1, Ifra Saleem1, Qudsia Nazir1, Muhammad Arfan-ul-Haq1, Abid Niaz4, Muhammad Arif1, Aamer Sattar1, Sarfraz Hussain5 and Adnan Rafique6
ABSTRACT
Phytic acid is substance that stores most of phosphorus in seeds of many cereals. It is a strong chelating agent which can chelate essential nutrients like zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium resulting in mineral deficiency in masses of developing countries. Low phytic acids is therefore a primary factor to enhance availability of these nutrient and combat phytic acid related issues. In this study, the most suitable crop stage and combination of zinc and phosphorus application was investigated to decrease phytin content and enhance zinc bioavailability in rice grain. Three level of phosphorus fertilizer viz. 60, 90, 120 kg ha-1 were employed with 5 and 10 kg ha-1 of zinc fertilizer. Treatment applied with the recommended dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was taken as control. Paddy yield data were collected and rice grain was analysed for phosphorus, zinc and phytic acid contents. Findings showed that maximum paddy yield (4.80 t ha-1) was found where P and Zn were applied 120 and 5 kg ha-1 respectively with maximum P (0.55%), Zn (13.8 mg kg-1) and phytic acid (0.38%) contents. Lowest phytic acid contents (0.32%) were observed in control treatment. The results depicted that yield, P and Zn contents of rice grain improved significantly due to synergistic effect of P and Zn fertilizers applied at different growth stages. The phytic acid contents in rice grains remained within safe limit in all treatments but lower grain phytic acid have been observed where only recommended dose of NPK fertilizers were used.
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