Zinc is an important micronutrient in plant nutrition due to the fact that it has many physiological functions in biological systems. It is cofactor for a wide range of enzymes, nearly 3000 proteins being zinc dependent. Wheat’s nutrition relation with zinc is controlled through physiological and molecular mechanisms, which can be classified into root or shoot based. The cultivation on deficient soils is the main reason of the low zinc concentration in grains. Due to these fact, low biodisponibility appears. Zinc deficiency could often be observed in arid and semiarid environments, on saline soils. Moreover, the soils which are naturally rich or poor in organic carbon, or those water imbibed present the same feature. The aim of this study was to determine zinc effects on some physiological indices. Wheat, Triticum aestivum ssp. vulgare, Ciprian cv. was cultivated on Didactic Station of BUASVM Timișoara, Romania. Wheat plants were fertilized only on leaves during spring. Zinc was part of a liquid fertilizer and five experimental concentrations were used. The probes were sampled in May 2018. The investigated indices were dry biomass and leaves lengths and widths. Biomass production was estimated using linear regression analysis. Only the aboveground parts of the wheat plants were studied, due to the fact that belowground biomass production on wheat is harder to estimate because of the morphology of the radicular system. Dry aboveground biomass increased proportionally with the amount of zinc used. The lowest values of the investigated parameters were obtained for Zn 0 samples, and the highest values were obtained for Zn 4 samples. The aboveground biomass is important because it is the base of wheat straw, which can be used in industry. The adequacy for the production of biofuels had been demonstrated. Same trends were also noticed for the others investigated indices, leaves lengths and widths, respectively and a higher zinc dose results in physiological benefits for wheat plants.

dry biomass, wheat, zinc, fertilization

sciences soil

Presentation: poster