Abstract
Introduction: Soybean is one of the major sources of edible and vegetable oil and accounts for almost 50 percent of the world oil seed production. Micronutrients are essential for the natural growth of plants and the achievement of the proper yield and quality of the product. For example, iron element plays a role in the formation of plant chlorophyll and zinc element to produce auxin hormones and photosynthesis. The present study was conducted to determine the effect of soil application of iron and zinc sulfate levels on yield and yield components of soybean.
Materials and methods: This field study was conducted in Khorramabad city, during growing season of 2017. The experiment was factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments consisted of 4 levels of iron (Fe) fertilizer including: control (0), 30, 60 and 90 kg/ha form FeSO4 source and zinc (Zn) treatments in 4 levels including: control (0), 10, 20 and 30 kg/ha form ZnSO4 source. The studied characteristics included number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, plant height, 1000 seed weight, percent of oil and protein.
Results: Results showed that Fe and Zn levels had significant effects on the number of seed per pod, number of pod per plant, height of plant, 1000 seed weight, seed yield, percent of oil and protein. Also, interaction of Fe and Zn treatments had significant effects on number of pod per plant, number of seed per pod, percent of oil and protein. The treatment of 10 kg ha Zn and 60 kg/ha Fe resulted in the most yield (5397/38 kg/ha) that didn't show any significant difference compared with treatment of 60 kg/ha Fe and 10 kg/ha zinc (5149/18 kg/ha). The application of 60 kg/ha Fe and 10 kg/ha Zn is the best option of Fe and Zn management for soybean.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that iron and zinc have a positive role in the yield, quality of protein and seed oil. The results of quantitative characteristics showed that with increasing of both types of fertilizer, the characteristics were increased compared to the control, although in most of the characteristics there was no statistically significant difference between the levels of third and fourth.
Keywords: Quantitative and qualitative characteristics, Micronutrient, Soil application, Soybean |