The mycorrhizal pathway of zinc uptake contributes to zinc accumulation in barley and wheat grain

BMC Plant Biology

Table 1 P- values of two way ANOVA evaluating the effect of AMF inoculation with Rhizophagus irregularis (AMF Inoc) and three soil Zn levels (Zn application) on above ground plant parts, grain yield and yield components, Spike Fertility Index, and P content and Zn concentrations and content in grain and straw of bread wheat and barley sampled at physiological maturity (Zadoks growth stage 90)

Factors^a	Above ground biomass	Grain biomass	Straw biomass	Chaff biomass	No. of kernels spike⁻¹	Mean kernel weight	Spike Fertility Index	Grain P content	Straw P content	Grain Zn concentration	Grain Zn content	Straw Zn concentration	Straw Zn content
Bread wheat
AMF Inoc^b	0.489^d	< 0.001	0.741	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.787	< 0.001	0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.006	0.001	< 0.001
Zn application^c	0.018	0.475	0.003	0.815	0.365	0.047	0.548	0.317	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
AMF Inoc x Zn application	0.246	0.124	0.444	0.263	0.143	0.079	0.132	0.021	0.001	< 0.001	0.004	0.008	0.190
Barley
AMF Inoc	0.453	0.109	0.085	0.077	0.525	0.025	0.071	0.193	0.007	0.2302	0.067	0.2461	0.416
Zn application	0.341	0.840	0.217	0.576	0.825	0.718	0.470	0.717	0.625	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
AMF Inoc x Zn application	0.637	0.291	0.389	0.695	0.004	0.659	0.757	0.333	0.493	0.2964	0.100	0.0893	0.295

^aAMF Inoc and Zn application are used as fixed factors
^bAMF inoculation levels: mock inoculated and inoculated with Rhizophagus irregularis
^cSoil zinc levels: 0, 20 and 75 mg Zn kg^− 1 soil in the form of ZnSO₄
^dIn bold statistically significant values (P ≤ 0.05) (No of replicates = 5)

ISSN: 1471-2229