Glycine-chelated zinc rather than glycine-mixed zinc has lower foliar phytotoxicity than zinc sulfate and enhances zinc biofortification in waxy corn

Meng Xu; Longgang Du; Mengjiao Liu; Jingjie Zhou; Wankun Pan; Haoran Fu; Xin Zhang; Qingxu Ma; Lianghuan Wu

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131031

Glycine-chelated zinc rather than glycine-mixed zinc has lower foliar phytotoxicity than zinc sulfate and enhances zinc biofortification in waxy corn

Food Chem. 2022 Feb 15:370:131031. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131031. Epub 2021 Sep 2.

Authors

Meng Xu¹, Longgang Du², Mengjiao Liu¹, Jingjie Zhou¹, Wankun Pan¹, Haoran Fu¹, Xin Zhang¹, Qingxu Ma³, Lianghuan Wu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² Institute of Crop and Nuclear Technology Utilization, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China.
³ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: qxma@zju.edu.cn.
⁴ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: finm@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 34509153
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131031

Abstract

To determine whether high spraying concentrations of Zn sources increase the Zn concentration in waxy corn (Zea mays L. var. ceratina Kulesh) seeds without compromising agronomic performance, field experiments were conducted between 2018 and 2020. Excess ZnSO₄ application caused foliar burn, barren ear tip, and grain yield loss. ZnEDTA and Glycine-chelated Zn (ZnGly) caused less foliar burn, but Glycine-mixed Zn caused more foliar burn than ZnSO₄. The seed Zn concentration increased with spraying Zn concentration. ZnEDTA (≤0.8%) had a higher threshold concentration than ZnGly (≤0.4%). Nevertheless, Zn biofortification efficacy did not significantly differ between 0.4% ZnGly and 0.8% ZnEDTA, and the grain Zn recovery rate of 0.4% ZnGly was much higher than that of 0.8% ZnEDTA. Additionally, dual-isotope labelling tests confirmed that ¹⁵N-glycine and ⁶⁸Zn in ZnGly interacted. In the future, chelating technology is essential for developing new Zn fertilizers to optimize Zn biofortification efficacy.

Keywords: Biofortification; Foliar burn; Waxy corn; Zinc fertilizer; Zinc use efficiency.

MeSH terms

Animals
Bees
Biofortification*
Glycine / toxicity
Waxes
Zea mays
Zinc
Zinc Sulfate*

Substances

Waxes
Zinc Sulfate
Zinc
Glycine