The effect of gyttja application on growth of wheat in Zn deficient boron toxicity soils

Zinc deficiency is common micronutrient deficiency on the world and also in Turkey. In Turkey, particularly in Central Anatolia, it was shown that zinc deficiency is a very severe problem and leads to depression in plant yield. Besides Zn deficiency, also B toxicity exists in soils of Central Anatolia, but not so much widespread as compared with Zn deficiency. One of the main reasons for widespread occurrence of zinc deficiency in Central Anatolia is low content of organic material in the soil. It might be possible that, an incorporation of organic material into zinc deficient soils in Central Anatolia may overcome or alleviate Zn deficiency problem and improve plant yield. Moreover, application of organic matter of high amounts can depress B uptake of plants by complexing B. For these reasons in this study a Zn-deficient soil from Eskişehir- Sultanönü region and both Zn-deficient and B-toxic soil from Konya-Çomaklı region were used to study the effect of gyttja application on growth of two with cultivars (Kunduru-1 149: Durum Wheat; Dagdas-94: Bread Wheat ) and shoot concentration of Zn and B. Gyttja was applied at a rate of 5% in two different treatments: In the first treatments, gyttja was applied into soil and incubated for three weeks before at the start of sowing. In the second treatment, gyttja was applied during the sowing. In all treatments, gyttja applications reduced both concentration and content of Zn and B. Especially, gyttja resulted in particular decreases in concentration of B in shoot. Decreases in B concentration by gyttja treatment were around 150-300 ppm. These effects of gyttja were more significant, if gyttja was applied and incubated in the soil before the showing. It seems likely, that by complexing B and Zn and thus depressing their uptake gyttja reduced accumulation of Zn and especially B in plants. It can be suggested that gyttja treatment can be beneficial in amelioration of B toxic soil for the growth of plants.