| dc.description | Micronutrient malnutrition is a threatening health issue mainly among the developing countries. Thus cereal biofortification must be under attention of researchers in addition to yield improvement in order to feed the increasing world population. In order to investígate the effects of various sources of nutrients on maize biofortification, growth and yield, a field experiment was conducted at the research station of the Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran in 2012. The experiment was carried out as a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement in 3 replicates. Studied factors (4 factors) were Vermicompost (V 0 and V1), inoculation with and without Thiobacillus thiooxidans (B 0 and B 1), Fe chelate foliar spraying (F 0 and F 1) and Zn chelate foliar application (Z 0 and Z 1). The results showed that maize grain yield was improved by application of vermicompost (20.9%) and inoculation with Thiobacillus (13.1%). Biofortification demonstrated that vermicompost and Thiobacillus were highly effective on the micronutrient content of grain, improving Fe (12.7% and 12.1%, respectively) and Zn (29.2% and 17.5%, respectively) content. Although Fe and Zn application improved grain yield slightly (5.8% and 8.0%, respectively), they were effective for maize biofortification. Although Fe and Zn foliar application had slight effects on plant yield, yet Fe application increased Fe content by 12.9%. However, Zn application increased the content of N by 6.7%, Zn by 12.6% and protein by 7.2%. Farmers must be encouraged to apply micronutrient fer-tilizers to their fields in order to increase the quality of their products. | |
