GENOTYPIC DIFFERENCE IN CADMIUM EFFECT ON AGRONOMIC TRAITS AND GRAIN ZINC AND IRON CONCENTRATION IN WINTER WHEAT

Andrijana Rebekić; Zdenko Lončarić

doi:10.9755/ejfa.2016-05-475

Authors

Andrijana Rebekić Chair for Plant Genetics, Plant Improvement and Seed Science, Department for Plant Production, Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Zdenko Lončarić Chair for Plant Physiology and Plant Nutrition, Department for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9755/ejfa.2016-05-475

Keywords:

Zinc accumulation, Grain yield, Cadmium toxicity

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of soil cadmium contamination on agronomic traits and grain zinc and iron concentration
in a set of 51 winter wheat varieties of different origin and year of release. An experiment was set up according to completely randomized
design with two treatments (0 and 20 mg Cd kg-1 soil) and four replicates. Results showed that soil cadmium contamination increased
grain cadmium concentration for 70 fold in average. All agronomic traits were reduced on cadmium contaminated in comparision to values
obtained on an uncontaminated soil. The greatest reduction was observed in grain weight per spike and spike weight (27%) followed
by plant weight (25%) and a number of grains per spike (23%). Furthermore, on uncontaminated soil, cadmium concentration in grain
was in negative correlation to all agronomic traits (except for 1000 kernel weight) and cultivars year of release. Grain zinc concentration
was not affected by soil Cd contamination while grain iron concentration was higher on a Cd contaminated soil in comparison to values
obtained on uncontaminated soil.