Agric. sci. dev., Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014. pp.

330-332

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ISSN:

Agriculture Science Developments

2306-7527

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Examination of the Effects of Microelements on Bread Wheat (Triticum

aestivum) Production in Choram, Iran
Raham Mohtashami*
Agronomy Researcher (MSc.), Agricultural & Natural Resources Research Center, KB Province, P.O. Box 351, Yasouj, Iran

Behrooz Hassanpour
Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Natural Resources Research Center, KB Province, P.O. Box 351, Yasouj, Iran
*Corresponding author: rahammohtashami01@gmail.com

Keywords

Abstract

Bread wheat
Copper
Iron
Yield
Zinc

In order to examine the effects of fertilizers containing iron, zinc, and copper on the quantitative features of
irrigated bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), an experiment with eight fertilizer treatments including control,
zinc, iron, copper, mixture of iron and copper, mixture of copper and zinc and mixture of all three was
conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three repetitions in Choram region in
Kohgiluyeh-va-Boyerahmad (KB) province, Iran in 2011-2012. Iron, zinc and copper from their sulphate
sources and each for the amount of 30 kg in hectare were added to the soil at the time of planting. The rest
were added with the density of one in one thousand in three phases of plant growth including tillering, stem
elongation and flowering. With use of zinc sulphate, the number of ears in surface level was increased to the
amount of 110 ears and the 1000 grain weight was increased 1.4 g at P=0.01. With the utilization of zinc
sulphate, the harvest index (HI) was increased by 1.7% at P=0.05. It is while other fertilizer treatments were
not significant compared to control, despite addition. In terms of the number of grains in ear, a significant
difference was obtained between the two treatments of pure iron and mixture of iron and copper which can
be the result of antagonistic features of iron and copper in absorption to the plant. Findings showed that
copper utilization had significant effects on the yield of wheat grain in a way that its utilization at P=0.05,
1450 kg increase was obtained per hectare. In addition, copper utilization had significant effects on the
biologic yield of wheat at P=0.05 in a way that by its utilization, 2700 kg increase of yield per ha was
obtained.

1.

Introduction

About 40 percent of the world population is suffering from lack of microelements including zinc (Morghan and Mascagni, 1991). Tandon (1995)
reported that the use of fertilizers including zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mn), copper (Cu), Boron (B) and molybdenum (Mo), yield of
bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) has increased respectively by 380, 780, 560, 380, 520, and 440 kg. Chakmak (1997), in Turkey, significantly
increased the yield of Triticum Aestivum using 23 kg fertilizer containing zinc to the point that the relative yield increase was the result of using
zinc fertilizer between 5 to 554 percent with average of 43 percent. Rengel and Graham (1995) examined the effects of zinc available in seed on
the wheat growth and found that in seeds with high density of zinc, growth of root and aerial plant tissues was more compared to the seeds with
low density of zinc.
Yilmaz et al. (1997) examined effects of utilization methods of zinc sulphate on the yield and density of zinc in seeds of different types of wheat
and reported that utilization of zinc sulphate increases the yield to a noticeable degree.
Majidi and Malakooti (1988) reported that with soil application of zinc sulphate, density of zinc in soil will be increased significantly which is in
addition to the density of zinc in seed. With utilization of zinc, iron chelate (Fe-EDDHA) and copper sulphate had a 20% increase in yield.
Moreover, density of iron, zinc and copper was increased in seed and wheat straw (Sadri and Malakooti, 1998). Siadat et al. (1999) reported that
the effects of fertilizers with microelements were significant in the yield of wheat seed. In general, findings of previous studies showed that the
application of microelements proved to be useful individually on the yield of agricultural products however these studies were less involved with
the combinatory features of microelements on the yield of wheat seeds. In this study, efforts have been made to examine the application of some
fertilizers containing microelements like zinc, copper, iron, and a combination of their physical mixture in form of a combined fertilizer on the
number of ears in surface level, 1000 grain weight, number of seeds in ear, harvest index, straw yield, biologic yield and the yield of water wheat
grain Chamran cultivator in Choram region in KB province in southern of Iran.

2.

Material and Method

To perform this experiment, a farm with 930 meter above sea level was selected in Choram region. Before plantation of each repetition, a sample
of mixed soil from the depth of 0 to 30 cm was collected and necessary physiochemical features were analyzed and density of absorbable soil,
zinc, and copper was determined by iron chelate (Fe-DTPA). Results of analysis showed that elements of iron, zinc and copper in soil were less
than the critical level (Table 1).

331

Examination of the Effects of Microelements on Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Production in Choram, Iran
Agriculture Science Developments Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

Table 1. Results of Soil Analysis in the Location of Experiment

Soil depth
(cm)

Electrical
conductivity
(ds/m)

pH

0-30

0.56

8.2

Quantity (mg/kg)

(oc)
(%)

Iron

Zinc

Copper

1.5

3.2

0.55

2.68

Length of each plot was 5 m and their widths were 2.40. In each plot, there were 20 lines with space of 12 cm and distance of each plot was
60cm. in order to investigate the effects of iron, zinc, and copper on wheat, 8 fertilizer treatments were taken into consideration. They were (1)
Control, (2) Zn, (3) Fe, (4) Cu, (5) Fe+Zn, (6) Cu+Zn, (7) Cu+Fe, and (8) Cu+Fe+Zn. They were examined in three repetitions with RCBD in
the agricultural year of 2011-2012. The land under experiment was fallow the previous year.
The necessary N, P and K of the farm were determined based on soil test and they were respectively provided from the resources of urea
fertilizer, triple superphosphate and potassium sulphate. Phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and one third of Nitrogen fertilizer was used before
plantation and the rest of Nitrogen fertilizer was used in a uniform manner and in forms of roads in phases of tillering and stem elongation for all
plots. Microelements were also used in four phases (mixed with soil, tillering, stem elongation and flowering). The used sources of iron, zinc,
and copper was their sulphate that each, to the amount of 30kg in hectare, was added to the soil at the time of plantation. In solution spraying, the
plots under study, in three phases of tillering, stem elongation and flowering, with sulphate of the desired elements were sprayed, each with
density of one in thousand.
The selected seed of Chamran wheat cultivar was used to the amount of 200 kg per hectare. During the growth period, irrigation was done seven
times (once in fall and six times in spring). Harvesting was carried out from four square meter level and the overall yield was determined based
on kg in hectare. After harvesting, grain was separated from straw and yield of grain and straw was determined based on kilogram in hectare. In
order to determine the number of grains in ear, 20 ear were selected and the number of seeds were counted in them and the number of ears was
counted from the level of one square meter. Moreover, harvest index was calculated by dividing the yield of grain into the biologic yield and the
multiply it to 100. Analysis of statistical data was carried out by MSTAT-C software and comparison of treatment means was done using
Duncan Test in 5% level.

3.

Result and Discussion

With regard to the variance analysis table we can see that fertilizer treatments proved to be significantly effective on the biologic yield, straw
yield, and harvest index at the probability level of five percent. Moreover, this effect was significant on the number of ears in surface unit, 1000
grain weight and grain yield at the probability level of one percent. However, it did not show significant effects on the number of grains in ears.
Table 2. Variance Analysis of the Agricultural Features under Study
Features
Sources of
Change
Repeat

Harvest
Index

Degree
of
Freedom

Weight
of Each
Grain

Grain
Yield

No. of Ears
in Surface
Unit

No. of
Grains
in Ear

Straw
Yield

1.64

0.347

0.605

4294.8

3.01

0.892

2.84

ns

Biologic
Yield

Treatment

2.96*

1.208**

0.903*

3811.3**

5.48

0.956*

3.61*

Error
Total

0.807
35.28

14
13

0.278
13.04

0.275
11.38

641.2
44254.8

2.95
85.80

0.261
12.13

1.03
45.43

1.39

9.71

4.94

4.40

7.82

8.50

CV

1.99

ns, *, and ** are respectively: without significance, significant at the probability level of 5% and 1%.
In terms of the number of grains in ear, only between two treatments of pure usage of iron and mixed usage of iron and copper significant
difference was obtained. Treatments of zinc sulphate, iron sulphate and mixture of zinc sulphate and copper increased the weight of 1000 grain
and this increase was statistically at 1% level and was significant compared to the control and other treatments. Zinc sulphate fertilizer treatment
had significant effect on biologic yield. Other treatments did not show significant treatments compared to control. Zinc sulphate fertilizer
treatment had significant effect on grain yield. The most grain yield was obtained from zinc sulphate fertilizer treatment, to the amount of 6667
kg that was 1450 kg more than the control grain yield. Other fertilizer treatments did not show significant difference from the control. These
findings were consistent with findings of Khankar et al. (1992) and Yilmaz et al. (1997) with respect to zinc sulphate and its effect on bread
wheat (Triticum aestivum). It seems that lack of increase of Cu+Fe+Zn treatment compared to Zn treatment is due to interactional and
antagonistic effects between elements of Zn-Cu and Zn-Fe in the above mentioned treatments. Zinc had the most effect on wheat yield and its
components.

4. Conclusion
Consume of Zn not only have a significant positive effect on grain yield, but also had a significant influence on biological yield of wheat. As
experiment have shown that using zinc, quantity of 1450 kg grain yield and 2700 kg per ha biological yield, compared to control was increased
in Choram region in Kohgiluyeh-va-Boyerahmad province in Iran. Finally, to increase grain yield Chamran wheat cultivar, application of 30 kg
per ha zinc sulphate fertilizer before planting and spraying one per thousand at the three phase of tillering, stem elongation and flowering wheat
is recommended.

Raham Mohtashami *, Behrooz Hassanpour

332

Agriculture Science Developments Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

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