Effects of the Folate foliar application at different growth stages on quantity and quality of the wheat yield

Background and purpose: Wheat is one of most important crops, which has special place in people’s nutrition in developing countries such as Iran. Also, due to reducing food diversity and lack of receiving enough micronutrient such as iron, malnutrition and anemia are among the most challenging nutritional problems of these societies. Nowadays scientists try to not only improve the quality and quantity of wheat but also increase the accumulated micronutrients such as iron in wheat and help to reduce malnutrition. Due to role of folate in transfer of single carbon fragments, in this research effect of folic acid foliar application at different growth stages were investigated on wheat grains quality and quantity.
Material and methods: In order to evaluate the effect of folate foliar application on yield and iron content of wheat at different growth stages, an experiment was conducted at Maragheh University reseach farm in 2013 using randomized complete block design. In this regard, wheat cultivar namely Kohdasht planted with 500 seeds per m2 at 3 - 5 cm depth. Then, wheat seedlings was sprayed with 50 μM folate at shooting, heading, milky, dough and combination of above mentioned stages during last hours of daytime.
Findings: Results revealed that folate foliar application at different phonological stages of wheat caused to increase plant height, flag leaf area, and number of tillers compared with control, while it had no effect on number of spikelets per spike. In contrast, the percentage of sterile florets per spike significantly decreased in treated seedlings at all growth stages except heading stage. Also folate foliar application cause to increase the number of grains per spike at all growth stages except milky grain stage compared with control. In addition Folate foliar spray significantly affected 1000 seed weight only at milky and dough as well as combination of above mentioned stages. Because of folate foliar spray, biological and grain yield showed a significant increase in all phenological stages compared with control. Also, folate foliar application cause to significantly increase the content of grain iron except stem elongation stage compared with control.
Conclusion: As a conclusion, it can be stated that folate foliar application led to Increase wheat yield at all growth stages. But for achieving desirable quantitative and qualitative yield, it is better that folate get used to at last stages of wheat biological cycle. In addition, due to the positive effect of folate on the qualitative and quantitative aspects of food security, could be considered in breeding programs.