Abstract

Intensive and multiple cropping, cultivations of crop varieties with heavy nutrient requirement and unbalanced use of chemical fertilizers especially nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers reduced quality of grain production and the appearance of micronutrient deficiency in crops. A field experiment was conducted on clay-loam soil in Moghan region during 2007-2008 to investigate the effect of foliar application of zinc and iron on wheat yield and quality at tillering and heading stage. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The SAS software package was used to analyze all the data and means were separated by the least significant difference (LSD) test at P< 0.01. The treatments were control (no Zn and Fe Application), 150 g Zn.ha^-1 as ZnSO₄, 150 g Fe.ha^-1 as Fe₂O₃, and a combination of both Zn and Fe. In this study, parameters such as wheat grain yield, seed-Zn and Fe concentration were evaluated. Results showed that foliar application of Zn and Fe increased seed yield and its quality compared with control. Among treatments, application of (Fe + Zn) obtained highest seed yield and quality.

Key words: Wheat, yield, Zn, Fe, fortification.