Effect of different zinc levels on activity of superoxide dismutases & acid phosphatases and organic acid exudation on wheat genotypes

A field study was carried out to investigate the effect of three Zn levels 0, 20 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1) and 20 kg ZnSO4 ha(-1)+ foliar spray of 0.5 % ZnSO4 on superoxide dismutase activity, acid phosphatase activity and grain yield and a pot experiment to study the effect of zinc deficient and sufficient conditions on organic acid exudation. Increasing Zn levels was established as beneficial in improving the enzyme activities of genotypes. Combined foliar and soil application of Zn proved to be superior of all the treatments. Zinc application resulted in a maximum increment limit of 96.8 % in superoxide dismutase activity, 75.76 % in acid phosphatase activity, and a decrement limit of 88.57 % in oxalic acid exudation irrespective of stages and year of study. The increased enzyme activities had a positive impact on grain yield. As an average of all genotypes an improvement of 19.88 % in 2009 and 21.29 % in 2010 due to soil application while of 16.45 % in 2009 and 13.01 % in 2010 due to combined application was calculated for grain yield. There existed a variation among genotypes in showing responses towards zinc application and the genotypes UP 2584 and PBW 550 were found to be more responsive.