Improving key enzyme activities and quality of rice under various methods of zinc application.

Zinc (Zn) is an important micronutrient for the physiology of plants. It is poorly available to the plants in soil solution. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate effectiveness of various Zn application methods on key enzyme activities and protein content of two contrasting rice genotypes viz.

Effect of different zinc levels on activity of superoxide dismutases & acid phosphatases and organic acid exudation on wheat genotypes.

A field study was carried out to investigate the effect of three Zn levels 0, 20 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1) and 20 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1)+ foliar spray of 0.5 % ZnSO4 on superoxide dismutase activity, acid phosphatase activity and grain yield and a pot experiment to study the effect of zinc deficient and sufficient conditions on organic acid exudation. Increasing Zn levels was established as beneficial in improving the enzyme activities of genotypes.

Zinc - an indispensable micronutrient.

Availability of Zn to plant is hampered by its immobile nature and adverse soil conditions. Thus, Zn deficiency is observed even though high amount is available in soil. Root-shoot barrier, a major controller of zinc transport in plant is highly affected by changes in the anatomical structure of conducting tissue and adverse soil conditions like pH, clay content, calcium carbonate content, etc.