Three studies, two field and one laboratory, were performed to evaluate Cu or Cu and Zn from either sulfate sources or Cu-enriched pig manure. The studies were designed to investigate the effects of Cu and Zn in soils and corn (Zea mays L.). The first field study consisted of continuing a longterm field experiment which was established in 1967 to evaluate corn response and changes in a Davidson clay loam soil to yearly additions of Cu and Zn sulfates. In 1983, the 17 annual additions of Cu and Zn resulted in cumulative totals of 280 kg Cu and 560 kg Zn ha⁻¹. These Cu and Zn additions, either alone or together, did not cause any grain or stalk yield decreases. The DTPA extractant effectively separated all soil treatment levels for both Cu and Zn. Copper concentrations in the blades and grain were not related to soil additions of Cu or Zn. However, Zn concentrations in blades and grain were directly related to each other, r=0.87**, to soil Zn treatment levels and to DTPA extractable Zn. The second field experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of soil application of Cu-enriched pig manure and CuSO₄ on corn. The five treatments in each of three field locations consisted of a control, low and high Cu-enriched pig manure levels, and Cu, as CuSO₄, equivalent to Cu amounts in the manure. The soils varied in texture from clay loam to fine sandy loam, and ranged in CEC from 5 to 12.3 cmol(+) kg⁻¹. Copper-enriched pig manure, containing 1285 mg Cu kg⁻¹, was produced by pigs fed diets supplemented with 242 mg Cu kg⁻¹. After six years, 198 mg Cu kg⁻¹ had been applied by the high treatments. The DTPA extractable Cu was not related to leaf nor grain Cu levels but was linearly related, r=O.95**, to applied Cu. No nutrient deficiencies or toxicities were observed. The third study was a laboratory incubation of added Cu. The 15 soils ranged from 54 to 489 mg kg⁻¹ in clay and from 5.4 to 7.4 in pH. Extractable Cu had simple correlations with five soil properties, clay, surface area, hydrous Al, hydrous Fe, and hydrous Mn. Three treatments, a control and 22 kg ha⁻¹ Cu as CuSO₄, and as Cu-enriched pig manure (equivalent to 975 mt wet manure ha⁻¹), were applied to the soils at 33 k Pa moisture. Copper was extracted in the following order for the control and CuSO₄, treatments: AlCl₃ in O.5M HC1 > EDTA > DTPA. A different order of Cu extraction occurred for the Cu-enriched pig manure treatment such that EDTA > DTPA > AlCl₃ in 0.5M HC1. Extractable Cu decreased with time regardless of Cu source. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

[Truncated abstract] Zinc deficiency in crops is the most widespread micronutrient deficiency, with about 50% of the cereal-growing areas worldwide containing low levels of plant-available Zn. Zinc plays multiple key roles in different metabolic and physiological processes; its deficiency in crops reduces not only grain yield, but also the nutritional quality of grains. Insufficient micronutrient intake, particularly Zn and Fe, afflicts over 3 billion people in the world, mainly in developing countries. Increasing the amount of Zn in food crops can contribute to improving the Zn status of people. Furthermore, Zn-dense seeds have agronomic benefits, resulting in greater seedling vigour, bigger root system and higher crop yield when sowed to soils with low plant-available Zn. Enhancing nutrient content and nutritional quality of crops for human nutrition is a global challenge currently, but it was mostly ignored during the breeding process in the past. There is a significant genotypic variation for seed Zn accumulation in several crops (including barley) which could be exploited in the breeding programs to produce genotypes with higher seed Zn concentration and content. However, the progress in Zn efficiency until now has mainly relied on conventional plant breeding approaches that have had limited success. Therefore, reliable alternative methods are required. Enhancing mineral nutrition through plant biotechnology may be a sustainable and beneficial approach in developing Zn-dense seeds in the staple crops. ... This DNA band was sequenced and converted into a simple sequence-specific PCR-based marker, which was designated as SZnR1 (seed Zn-regulator1). The developed marker is very easy to score, is inexpensive to run and amenable for a large number of plant samples. The successful development of SZnR1 molecular marker linked to chromosome region associated with seed Zn concentration and content using MFLP in this study illustrates the advantage of this technique over some other DNA fingerprinting methods used for identification of molecular markers for marker-assisted selection (MAS). In conclusion, the greater Zn efficiency of Sahara over Clipper under sufficient Zn supply may be attributed to its higher uptake of Zn. It appears that soil-based pot experiments under controlled condition may offer potential improvements over field experiments in screening for seed Zn accumulation. Shoot and seed Zn concentration and content can be used to diagnose the Zn statues of barley genotypes, and may be a useful selection criterion for Zn efficiency in large populations like doubled-haploid populations aimed at developing molecular markers for Zn efficiency. Identified QTLs influencing seed Zn concentration were repeatable in the field and glasshouse conditions, suggesting their robustness across environments as well as their value in marker-assisted selection. The developed PCR-based marker SZnR1 and other molecular markers associated with the QTLs on the short and long arms of chromosome 2H have the potential to be used for marker-assisted selection in breeding for Zn-dense seed in barley.