Study on zinc efficiency of different wheat cultivars under the chelator-buffered nutrient solution culture conditions.

【Objective】Comparing Zn efficiency of different wheat cultivars can provide reference for screening Zn-efficient wheat cultivars.【Method】Nine bread wheat(WF151,S715,ZM9023,ZY6,XY22,WN148,XY216,XN889,YF175) cultivars and one rye cultivar(Secale cereale,control) were grown in chelator-buffered nutrient solution for 35 d with(+Zn,3 μmol/L) and without(-Zn)Zn supply,and leaf SOD,wheat biomass,wheat and seed Zn concentration were measured.【Result】All of the wheat cultivars showed visual symptoms of Zn deficiency under no Zn supply after two weeks of culture,and the symptoms became more serious with time.Zn deficiency resulted in a marked decrease in shoot dry weight,but it had relatively slighter influence on root.Six cultivars(WF151,ZM9023,YF175,XY22,XN889,ZY6) were similar in shoot dry weight under Zn supply,however,they showed great variation under Zn deficiency.The Zn efficiency of the nine wheat cultivars ranged from 23.6% to 46.3%,which was greatly lower than the Zn efficiency of rye(81.4%).Under adequate Zn supply,Zn concentration and Zn content in shoots were significantly increased,but Zn concentration in rye shoots did not change much.There was a very significant positive correlation between Zn content and Zn efficiency in shoots of wheat cultivars under no Zn supply,but Zn concentration in shoots was not significantly correlated with Zn efficiency,at the same time,there was not a significant correlation between Zn efficiency and Zn concentration or Zn content inseeds.【Conclusion】The results of the present study showed existence of a large variation in tolerance to Zn deficiency in bread wheat,suggesting that Zn efficiency can be used as a reliable plant parameter for screening the bread wheat genotypes for their tolerance to Zn deficiency.