Iron enrichment of paddy grains through ferti-fortification

An experiment was conducted at research farm of Department of Soil Science, PAU, Ludhiana during Kharif, 2011 to enrich paddy grains, brown rice and polished rice with Fe. Two levels of FeSO₄.7H₂O (0.5 and 1.0%) were sprayed on five rice cultivars at maximum tillering, pre-anthesis and post-anthesis stages. At maturity, grain yield data was collected. Grain samples were separated to brown rice whereas, polished rice were prepared with rice polisher. The grain, brown rice and polished rice samples were digested in diacid mixture and Fe concentration of these samples was determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Through ferti-fortification with Fe, the maximum Fe enrichment was observed in grains of PR113 cultivar with 0.5% (76.2 mg kg⁻¹) and with 1% (87.8 mg kg⁻¹) levels of FeSO₄.7H₂O spray. Brown rice of PR116 (20.5 mg kg⁻¹) and PAU 201 (28.8 mg kg⁻¹) cultivars reported the maximum Fe concentration with 0.5 and 1.0 per cent levels of FeSO₄.7H₂O spray respectively. However, in polished rice, the maximum Fe concentration was reported in PR120 (13.3 mg kg⁻¹) and PR 113 (16.4 mg kg⁻¹) cultivars with 0.5 and 1.0 per cent sprays of FeSO₄.7H₂O respectively. Ferti-fortification technique significantly increases the grain yield of different rice cultivars., brown and polished rice