Contents and yields of copper, iron, manganese and zinc would be affected by lucerne age and cut

Zhennan Wang; Yizhao Shen; Chongliang Bi; Mirielle Pauline; Qingping Zhang; Shenjin Lv; Huimin Yang; Yan Yang

doi:10.7717/peerj.11188

Contents and yields of copper, iron, manganese and zinc would be affected by lucerne age and cut

PeerJ. 2021 Apr 6:9:e11188. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11188. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Zhennan Wang¹, Yizhao Shen², Chongliang Bi¹, Mirielle Pauline³, Qingping Zhang¹, Shenjin Lv¹, Huimin Yang⁴, Yan Yang⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Linyi University, Linyi, China.
² College of Animal Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
⁵ Linyi Academy of Agricultural Science, Linyi, China.

Abstract

Background: Lucerne is a perennial legume forage, which can produce multiple cuts in 1 year. Microelements play fundamental roles in the function, maintenance and adaptation to the environment for lucerne growth. However, the role of the accumulation of copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and Zinc (Zn), which vary with lucerne ages or cuts, has not been previously determined. Therefore, a hypothesis on the Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in lucerne varying with age and cut was tested.

Methods: A total of 11, 8, 5, 4 and 1 year old lucerne (Medicago sativa Longdong) were selected as the material (until 2012 year), and samples were taken as three cuts at the cutting periods (early flowering stage) in 2012. Then, the contents and yields of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in lucerne were measured and calculated.

Results: The highest contents of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in lucerne were found in the 1 year old among the five ages, at the 3rd cut compared to the other two cuts, and in the leaf among the three organs. The highest yields of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were found in the older ages (11 and 8 years old), at the 3rd cut, and in the root among the three organs. The most positive correlations were found between contents, yields and biomass.

Conclusions: The hypothesis was supported by the results. And the contents and yields of lucerne Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were affected by the age, cut and organ. Furthermore, the yields of lucerne Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were determined by their contents and lucerne biomass.

Keywords: Age; Cut; Medicago sativa; Organ; Trace element.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Forage Industrial Innovation Team, Shandong Modern Agricultural Industrial and Technical System, China (SDAIT-23-10), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020QC184), the Key Innovation Project on Agriculture Applied Technology from The Key Innovation Project on Agriculture Applied Technology from Shandong Province Government (2018–2020). Research and Demonstration of the Integrated Ecological Cycle for Planting and Feeding Model, the Sheep Industrial Innovation Team, Shandong Modern Agricultural Industrial and Technical System, China (SDAIT-10-14), and the Technology Innovation Team for Animal Behavior & Welfare and Health Breeding. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.