Comparison of Some Rice Genotypes for Zn-deficiency Tolerance in a Field and Hydroponic Experiment

Zn deficiency is one of the most important nutritional disorders after macro-nutrients in rice. There are considerable genotypic differences among rice genotypes in response to Zn deficiency. Determination of such differences and introduction of efficient genotypes could lead to significant reduction of fertilizer use for rice production. In this research, some of the most frequently cultivated rice genotypes in Northern Iran, were compared for their tolerance to Zn deficiency in a field (11 cultivars) and hydroponic (16 cultivars) experiment. Four levels of Zn fertilizer were used in field experiment including 0 (control), 25, 50 and 100 kg ha-1 and three different activity of Zn in chelator-buffer experiment including 130 (control), 23 and 5 pM. Experiments were conducted using complete randomized block design and data was analyzed using two factorial analysis of variance including Zn level and genotypes. In addition to yield components in the field study and dry matter production in the hydroponic culture medium, concentration of Zn was also determined in shoot, root and seed. The comparison of all yield components showed that the cultivar Onda was the most Zn-inefficient (susceptible to Zn deficiency) and Khazar was the most Zn-efficient (tolerant to Zn deficiency) genotypes under field conditions. In hydroponic experiment, cultivars Fajr, Tarom Hashemi and Onda were determined as the most Zn-inefficient and Shafagh, Amol and Mianeh were recognized as the most Zn-efficient genotypes. The most significant response to Zn fertilizer, in terms of Zn accumulation in seeds, was observed in Nemat and Tarom Deilamani. In contrast, Cadoos accumulated Zn mostly in straw. Results of our experiments introduced not only the genotypes with the highest yield on soils low in available Zn, but also genotypes with the highest Zn accumulation in seeds in response to Zn fertilizers which are important for human nutrition.