Comparison of iodine application methods in Rocket Plant
Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, TR17020 Canakkale, Turkey
*Correspondence: gizemaksu@comu.edu.tr
Abstract:
Iodine is an essential trace element for human health and is involved in the production of the thyroid hormone. Recently, a new idea has emerged: to meet people’s need for daily iodine by increasing the iodine content of vegetables with high iodine bioavailability and assimilation. This study was carried out with iodine foliar application and root application methods to determine which is more appropriate when attempting to increase iodine content. An experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with 4 doses of iodine in the form of potassium iodide (0, 2, 4, 8 mM), two application methods (foliar and root application) and three replicates. At the end of the experiment, the plants’ fresh and dry weight, relative water content, membrane stability, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll were determined. The results were subjected to analysis of variance according to the randomized blocks experiment design using the MINITAB 17.0 statistical package program. The applications did not show a statistical difference in plant fresh weight and dry weight. There was no statistical difference in the relative water content between the applications, while a statistical difference (P < 0.05) in the membrane stability was observed for the interaction of application type and application dose. Chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and the total chlorophyll amount were also statistically affected (P < 0.05) by the application doses. Foliar and root application methods have not caused significant loss of yield. Both methods are also considered to be appropriate to use in practice.
Key words:
Iodine, Rocket, Thyroid, Vegetable