Microbial Assisted Foliar Feeding of Micronutrients Enhance Growth, Yield and Biofortification of Wheat

Micronutrient malnutrition caused by inadequate dietary intake is a global nutritional problem of more than half of world's population. Fortification is expensive while biofotification is a natural approach and considered better than fortification. Biofotification of wheat with micronutrients especially zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) is a relatively new public approach to control deficiencies of these nutrients in flour/diet in developing countries. This research study is comprised of results of field experiment to examine the effects of foliar feeding of micronutrients along with endophytic bacteria on growth, yield and nutrient uptake of wheat. Compared with control (without foliar feeding of micronutrients), foliar application on wheat with endophytic bacteria increased the plant height, leaf area, spike length and plant biomass by 13.53, 41.67, 55.07 and 42.50% respectively. It was observed that Zn and Fe concentration enhanced in grains up to 37.93 and 10.14% respectively with the combine application of micropower and endophytic bacteria. These results elucidate that foliar feeding of micronutrients effectively biofortified wheat grains. Furthermore, foliar feeding of micronutrients along with endophytic bacteria could be used as an easy, quick and cost-effective approach to enrich wheat flour with health essential micronutrients for correcting malnutrition. (C) 2018 Friends Science Publishers