Effect of Zinc deficiency on growth and biochemical characters of barnyard millet lines

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is one of the important abiotic factors limiting crop productivity worldwide and also a nutritional disorder affecting human health. Barnyard millet, one of the minor millets, which is known for its high nutritional value compared to other major cereals. To observe the effects of Zn on growth and biochemical parameters of two contrasting barnyard millet lines MDU1 and ACM-16-5, a hydroponic experiment was conducted. The barnyard millet lines selected for this study differ from each other in Zn accumulation in their seeds. The research was comprised of three treatments viz., control, minimal Zn deficiency (25% of control), and Zn deficiency (completely devoid of zinc). The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. The sample collection for biochemical analysis and growth parameters recordings was done after ten days of stress imposition. A significant impact of Zn deficiency was observed between the two barnyard millet lines. Comparing the performance of MDU1 and ACM-16-5, MDU1 performed better than ACM-16-5 due to the efficient uptake and utilization of micronutrients, particularly Zn, under control and minimal Zn deficit condition. It is clear from our findings that zinc influence the morphological and physiological processes of MDU1 and ACM-16-5.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.2019.000317

Pages

594 - 599

Creative Commons

Copyright

© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

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