The effect of application of slow-release fertilizer enriched with Fe on qualitative characteristics of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) under salinity stress conditions

To investigate the effect of slow-release fertilizer enriched with Fe on grain quality of Narin, a new wheat cultivar, under salinity conditions and assessing the allelic diversity of high molecular weight glutenin encoding genes, a factorial experiment was conducted as randomized complete block design with three replications in research greenhouse of Aburaihan Campus, University of Tehran, Pakdasht, Tehran, Iran, in 2017- 2018. The studied factors were two factors, salinity stress (at three levels including 0, 8 and 12 dS.m-1) and fertilizer (at five levels including no-fertilizer application, ferrous sulfate at 10 and 20 mg.kg-1 soil, super-absorbent fertilizer enriched with ferrous sulfate at 52.5 and 105 mg.kg-1 soil). The studied traits included 100 grain weight, grain yield per plant, grain protein percentage, grain Fe content, grain total soluble carbohydrates, grain hardness index, flour water absorption, moisture content, bread volume and zeleny sedimentation volume. The results showed that 100 grains weight, grain yield per plant, grain Fe content, grain total soluble carbohydrates content and zeleny sedimentation volume increased with application of fertilizer and superabsorbent fertilizer enriched with Fe had more positive effects than ferrous sulfate in many of the studied traits. Salinity stress significantly decreased 100 grains weight, grain yield and total soluble carbohydrates content, but grain Fe content, grain protein percentage and flour water absorption significantly increased with increasing salinity stress. By studying the electrophoretic pattern of high molecular weight glutenin subunits in Narin variety, 2*, 7+8 and 2+12 alleles were identified at Glu-A1, Glu- B1 and Glu-D1 loci, respectively. Based on the results of the present study, it seems that superabsorbent fertilizer enriched with Fe has higher efficiency than ferrous sulfate fertilizer on the qualitative characteristics of wheat grain and flour, especially under salinity stress conditions.