Toprak Bilimi ve Bitki Besleme / Soil Science and Plant Nutrition DOI: 10.21597/jist.

691758
Araştırma Makalesi / Research Article
Iğdır Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 10(3): 2242-2251, 2020
Journal of the Institute of Science and Technology, 10(3): 2242-2251, 2020
ISSN: 2146-0574, eISSN: 2536-4618

Combined Iodine, Iron and Zinc Biofortification of Tomato Fruit

Özge ŞAHİN1*
ABSTRACT: Deficiencies of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and iodine (I) are major malnutritional health problem
in the devoloping countries. Biofortification of vegetables with I, Fe and Zn can become an alternative
strategy of introducing these elements for human dietary intake. The purpose of this study was to
determine the effect of combined I (KIO3), Fe (FeSO4.7H2O) and Zn (ZnSO4.7H2O) supply on I, Fe and
Zn concentrations of tomato plants, which is stem and leaf, and their fruits (Lycopersicon esculentum L.
cv. Swanson). Tomato cultivar was grown in glasshouse conditions with four replications in 10 kg soil
and 5% peat mixture. The treatments as contain: contol, each element applied at 10, 20 and 40 mg I-Fe-
Zn kg-1, respectively. Concentrations of I, Fe and Zn and essential elements (P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Mn,
Mo, Cl, Si and Ni) as well as non-essential elements (Al, Co, Ti, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba, Cr, Sn, Sb, Te, Ge, Cs,
Ce, Ga, Ta, Hf) were determined by Polarized Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorensence (PEDXRF). Effect
of combined I-Fe-Zn treatments on fresh and dry weights of plant and fruit were found statistically
important. Iron and Zn concentrations of fruits and plants were increased by combined I-Fe-Zn treatment
except for Fe concentration in plant. Application of I-Fe-Zn were not significant effect on essential
element concentrations in both plants and fruits, out of Ca, Na and Si concentrations in fruit. No
influence of I-Fe-Zn treatment on the measured non-essential elements concentrations with the exception
of plant Br concentration and fruit Sr concentration. This study revealed that combined I-Fe-Zn treatment
can be used effectively for I, Fe and Zn biofortication of tomato fruits for the dietary intake for human.

Key words: Biofortification, iodine, iron, zinc, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)

1
Özge ŞAHİN (Orcid ID: 0000-0003-3593-4594), Ankara Üniversitesi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Toprak Bilimi ve Bitki Besleme
Bölümü, Ankara, Türkiye
*Sorumlu Yazar/Corresponding Author: Özge ŞAHİN, e-mail: osahin@ankara.edu.tr
Geliş tarihi / Received: 21-02-2020
Kabul tarihi / Accepted: 06-04-2020

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Combined Iodine, Iron and Zinc Biofortification of Tomato Fruit

INTRODUCTION
Micronutrient malnutrition is an inadequate daily diet of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and iodine (I) (Stein,
2010; Clemens, 2014) and deficienciey of these nutrition is a reason of serious health problem on world
population especially in devolopping countries (Welch et al., 2013; Cakmak and Kutman, 2018; Zou et
al., 2019). There are some methods to combat nutrient deficiency such as biofortification, specific plants,
transgenic plants or conventional breeding and etc. (Dimkpa and Bindraban, 2016; Kumar et al., 2019)
but biofortification is the more impactful, sustainable, low-cost and easier method to enrich the
micronutrient content of crops than the other methods for developing countries (Bouis et al., 2011; Diaz-
Gomez et al., 2017; Sazawal et al., 2018).
Iodine, Fe and Zn are essential micronutrient for human health and unfortunately, deficiencies are
common in both developing and developed countries. Iodine necessity of people is about 150 µg day-1
which is especially need for activity of thyroid hormones, besides infant mortalities, mental retardation
(Lin et al., 2004; Smolen and Sady, 2012). Anemia is the one of the common health problem by the
reason of Fe deficiency, especially about 40-45% of prescholl-age children are anemic, which more than
half of the Fe in the human body is bound to hemoglabine (Grillet et al., 2014). The recommended human
dietary of Fe varies between 8-18 mg day-1 depending on the age, body weight, gender and pregnancy
(Anonymous, 2009). Zinc is structural role on thousands of proteins for microorganisms, plants, animals
and humans. People daily Zn requirement is 1.5-2.5 mg day-1 and due to the deficiency of Zn may occur
retarded growth, skeletal abnormalities, hypogonadism, diarrhea, immune dysfunction, delayed wound
healing etc. (Salgueiro et al., 2000; Anonymous, 2009; Anonymous, 2017).
Deficiency of reasons of I, Zn and Fe in soil and plant are soil texture, pH, tillage, water
management, nutrient interactions, fertilization, type of nutriets and plant cultivars (Hetzel and Pandav,
1994; Lin et al., 2004, Smolen and Sady, 2012; Prasad et al., 2014; Patel et al., 2018; Gonzali et al.,
2017; Lyons, 2018). In addition, main important reason of deficieny of I, Fe and Zn concentration is
phytic acid. Phytic acid is a compound, which found especially in cereals and therefore has an important
influence in daily human food consumption. Unfortunately, bioavailability of some element such as Zn,
Fe are relationship with phytic acid. Because, phytic acid obstructed the availability of these element in
cereals which there are many studies about it (Cakmak et al., 2010; White and Broadley, 2011; Sperotto
et al., 2012; Shahzad et al., 2014; Guo et al., 2016; Maqbool and Beshir, 2018; Cakmak and Kutman,
2018). While vegetables have low phytic acid and high ascorbate content as well as phenolics and
carotenoids that it is increased availability of these elements (Gillooly et al., 1983; Siegenberg et al.,
1991; Garcia-Alonso et al., 2004; La Frano et al., 2014; Krzepilko et al., 2015; Woch and Hawrylak-
Nowak, 2019; Giordano et al., 2019). In these way biofortification of vegetable is an alternative to
suppress on the phytic acid metabolism (Majumber et al., 2019). Besides, vegetables such as spinach,
lettuce, tomato etc. are short-term growing than the cereals which means that people can uptake nutrient
is more quickly and easily. At the same time inceases of concentrations of I, Fe and Zn not only effect
on the concentrations of deficit nutrients but also increase the antioxidant compound of plants and so
increases of these nutrients will have a positive effect on human health (Blasco et al., 2008; Przybysz et
al., 2016; Incrocci et al., 2019).
Among the vegetables, tomato is the most consumed and traded vegetables in the world and it has
important nutrients and antioxidants which plays an important role in human diet, especially for
vegetarian diet. Additionally, tomato is not only used as a fresh but also it uses as a souce, paste, dried,
peeled etc. There is some study about Zn and Fe biofortification on most important cereal like maize,
rice or wheat etc. (Cakmak et al., 2010; Sperotto et al., 2012; White and Broadley, 2011; Guo et al.,

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Combined Iodine, Iron and Zinc Biofortification of Tomato Fruit

2016; Maqbool and Beshir, 2018; Cakmak and Kutman, 2018). Unfortunately, there is not any study on
the combined I, Fe and Zn biofortification of edible plants (Kiferli et al., 2013; La Frano et al., 2014;
Krzepilko et al., 2015; 2016; Giordano et al., 2019).
The aim of this study is to find out I, Fe and Zn biofortification with the supply of those elements
and also determine the variations of essential (K, P, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Mn, Mo, Cl, Si and Ni) and some
non-essential (Co, Ti, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba, Cr, Sn, Sb, Te, Ge, Cs, La, Ce, Ga, Ta, Hf,) elements concentrations
of tomato plants and fruits. This is the first study about combine I, Fe and Zn biofortification on
vegetables and I expect this study to lead the new studies with other vegetables.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Plant Growth Conditions and Treatments
Tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Swanson) were grown from May 23 to August
16, 2018 in a glasshouse condition at the Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Ankara
University. The experiment was carried out in plastic pots (30cm×24cm×27cm) holding 10,000 g air-
dried soil and 5% peat of total soil weight. The soil was taken from the 0-20 cm of experimental fields
of the Agricultural Faculty, Ankara University and properties of the soil were determined by the Page
(1982) (Table 1). For each element from I (KIO3), Fe (FeSO4.7H2O) and Zn (ZnSO4.7H2O) were applied
at the rates of 0, 10, 20 and 40 mg kg-1 of soil after the seedling transplantation, respectively. For the
basal fertilization, 400 mg N kg-1 soil from KNO3 and 100 mg N kg-1 from CaNO3, 100 mg P kg-1 from
(NH4)H2PO4, which total amount of N, P, K and Ca was 545, 100, 1110, 170 mg kg-1 respectively, were
applied during the plant growth period. The experiment was designed according to a randomized block
design with four replications-one plant per one replicate in each treatment. Plants were irrigated with tap
water until reached the 70% of field capacity. Plants were cultivated until the bud of the inflorescences
in the four cluster was formed. Ripening fruits and leaves were collected for each cluster, weighed and
dried during the experiment. Plants were harvested and separated into leaf and stem (plant) and
unripened fruits. After determining of fresh weight, the plants and fruits were washed once with tap
water and twice in deionized water. Four cluster of plants and fruits were combined with each other,
seperately. Unripened fruits were omitted after weighing while concentrations of elements were
determined in only ripening fruits. Plant and fruit samples, which are expressed as homogenized leaf
and stem and fruit samples, were dried in a drying oven at 65°C and then dry weight recorded. All
samples were grounded. Before the determination of elemental concentrations by PEDXRF elemental
analysis, samples were pelleted with press machine.
Determination of Mineral Element Concentraions of Soil, Plant and Fruit
Homogenied plants and fruit samples were sieved (200 µm) to determine of the essential and non-
essential element concentraitions by PEDXRF (Spectro XLAB2000) as reported by Gunes et al., (2009)
at the Earth Sciences Application and Research Centre (YEBIM) of Ankara University.
Statistical Analysis
Analysis of variance was performed on the data with one-way ANOVA using MINITAB 17 and
significant differences among treatment means were calculated by LSD test (LSD; P < 0.05) and
compared by descriptive statistics [±standart error (SE)].

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Combined Iodine, Iron and Zinc Biofortification of Tomato Fruit

Table 1. Some physical and chemical properties of soil

Properties Method Amount/ Quantification
Texture - Loamy
CaCO3 Scheibler 59.60 g kg-1
pH 1/2.5 water 7.80
EC 1/2.5 water 0.35 dS m-1
Organic Matter Walkley Black 18.20 g kg-1
N Kjeldahl 3.52 g kg-1
-1
Concentration of elements (NH4OAc-extractable, g kg )
K 0.79 Mg 1.86
Ca 5.10 Na 0.25
Concentration of elements (DTPA-extractable, mg kg-1)
Fe 8.73 Cu 2.06
Zn 4.02 Mn 22.6
-1
Total concentrations of elements (XRF, g kg )
P 0.97 Na 0.37
K 13.9 Cl 0.05
Ca 47.7 Si 155
Mg 9.23 Al 42.68
S 1.01 - -
Total concentrations of elements (mg kg-1)
I 2.30 Ba 452
Fe 32570 Sb 1.60
Zn 123 Sn 7.20
Cu 41.20 Rb 58.04
Mn 703 Cr 72.12
Mo 2.70 Ga 13.60
Se 0.30 Ge 1.00
Cd 0.80 Cs 3.80
Co 37.50 Ta 4.20
Br 3.90 Te 1.20
Ti 3288 Ce 60.30
Ni 54.70 Hf 4.00
Sr 256 - -

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Dry and Fresh Weight of Plant and Fruit
Plant and fruit weight of the tomatoes was presented in Table 2. Biofortification with I-Fe-Zn had
positive effect on plant and fruit weight. Effect of combined I-Fe-Zn treatments on dry and fresh weight
of plant and fruit were statistically important. The highest fresh and dry weight of plant were determined
by 10 mg I-Fe-Zn kg-1 of soil, respectively 472, 79.50. There was a relationship between the levels of I-
Fe-Zn and fruit weight. Fruit fresh weight increased by the combined I-Fe-Zn treatments and the highest
fruit weight were determined by the highest level of combined I-Fe-Zn treatment (40 mg I-Fe-Zn kg-1 of
soil). Especially, fruit weights were increased by the combined I-Fe-Zn treatments, respectively 16%,
47%, 74% when compared the control treatment. This result is accordance with the study of Weng et al.
(2013) who explained that I had positive effect on biomass of 10 different vegetables cultivars. Weng et
al. (2008) in their study showed that I treatmant is effective on growth rate of spinach. Blasco et al.,
(2008), concentration of I and antioxidant compounds of lettuce were increased due to the treatment of
I. Gioia et al. (2019) suggested that growth rate with Fe and Zn concentrations of microgreen plants were
increased by the Fe and Zn treatments.

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Table 2. Effect of combined iodine, iron and zinc treatment on plant fresh and dry weight, and fruit weight
Plant Fruit
Treatments Fresh weight Dry weight Fresh weight
g plant-1 g plant-1 g fruit-1
Control 254±11.41 c 53.22±4.22 c 522±22.62 d
10 I-Fe-Zn 472±12.48 a 79.50±4.52 a 607±19.00 c
20 I-Fe-Zn 360±8.34 b 63.92±1.75 b 766±16.50 b
40 I-Fe-Zn 372±9.55 b 64.28±0.48 b 906±5.87 a
F 71.27 11.68 98.26
LSD 32.50** 9.74** 26.63**
** P < 0.01.

Concentrations of the Elements

Plant I concentrations were increased by the combined treatment of I, Fe and Zn. The highest
concentrations of I and Zn in the plants were determined by the 40 mg kg-1 of soil. However,
concentration of Fe in plant were not change statististically important. The highest concentrations of I,
Fe and Zn in the fruits were determined by highest combine I-Fe-Zn treatment (40 mg kg-1) as 19.9, 39.7
and 39.6 mg kg-1 in fruit, respectively (Table 3). Iodine concentrations of plants and fruits were increased
due to the increases treatment levels that the highest I concentration were determined by the highest
combine treatment, but there was no statistically important difference between the other treatment. Zinc
and Fe concentrations of fruits were increased by the the treatments. Some studies demonstrated that
some vegetables and fruits such as spinach (Zhu et al., 2003; Weng et al., 2003; Dai et al., 2006;
Humphrey et al., 2019), lettuce (Blasco et al., 2008; Voogt et al., 2010), radish and Chinese cabbage
(Weng et al., 2003), strawberry (Li et al., 2017a), pepper (Li et al., 2017b) can store I by levels of I
treatment. According LandiNİ et al., (2011) fresh weight and I concentration of tomato (Solanum
lycopersicum L.) were increased by I treatment (5, 10 and 20 mM) and as a result, 5 mM I treatment was
enough to uptake a daily human I requirement. Hong et al. (2008) reported that higher than 50 mg I kg-
1
of soil treatment was shown chlorosis effect on tomato. In the other study by Weng et al. (2013)
reported that biofortification of I can be changed due to the different genotypes within the same type of
vegetables and levels of treatments. All of these studies results like our results. Iron and Zn concentration
of tomato fruits were increased by the I, Fe and Zn treatments. Especially, effect of the highest combined
I, Fe and Zn treatment on Fe and Zn concentraions of fruits were remarkable than the other treatment.
Researches conducted by Cakmak (2008), Prasad et al. (2014), White and Broadley (2009, 2011),
Shahzad et al. (2014), Zaman et al. (2018), Patel et al. (2018), Giardono et al. (2019) shows that
combined or separately application of Zn and Fe was reason of the increases of Fe and Zn concentrations
as in this research.
Table 3. Effect of combined iodine, iron and zinc treatment on plant and fruit I, Fe and Zn concentrations
Plant (mg kg-1 DW)
Treatments
I Fe Zn
Control 2.50±0.24 c 210±26.20 16.90±1.30 d
10 I-Fe-Zn 68.50±13.0 bc 188±11.10 30.80±0.85 c
20 I-Fe-Zn 162±27.02 b 221±20.10 40.90±1.94 b
40 I-Fe-Zn 308±60.62 a 197±15.50 55.30±4.48 a
F 15.4 0.57 26.2
LSD 104** ns 7.89**
Fruit (mg kg-1 DW)
Control 2.73±0.30 b 28.75±1.11 c 21.05±1.34 c
10 I-Fe-Zn 2.74±0.29 b 30.83±1.57 bc 28.52±1.28 b
20 I-Fe-Zn 5.24±1.77 b 32.39±0.91 b 29.70±0.94 b
40 I-Fe-Zn 19.85±2.71 a 39.64±1.03 a 39.58±1.54 a
F 25.37 16.10 35.54
LSD 5.03** 3.64** 3.99**
ns, non-significant; ** P < 0.01.

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Treatments of combined I-Fe-Zn had no statistically important effect on the concentrations of P,

K, Mg, Na, S, Ca, Si and Al of plants. On the other hand, effect of treatments (40 mg I-Fe-Zn kg-1 of
soil) on Ca, Na and Si concentrations of fruit were statistically important while P, K, S and Mg of fruit
were not statistically important (Table 4). Essential and non-essential elements concentrations of plant
and fruit were not signifcantly changed by combined I, Fe and Zn treatments. In the study conducted by
Smolen and Sandy (2012) effect of I treatment on P, K, Mg, S, B, Cu, Mn, Mo and Cd concentrations in
spinach were not signinificant. On the contrary, concentrations of N, Ca, Na, Fe and Zn of plant were
significantly increased by I treatment. Islam et al. (2018) were examined the effect of Fe and I treatment
on cherry tomato genotypes. For this purpose, 1 mg Fe L-1 and 1 I L-1 were applied, seperately.
Treatments of these elements were not significant effect on Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn concentrations. In an
another study by Krezpilko et al. (2016), 0.5 µM KI L-1 treatment was sufficient to enrich seedlings with
I and K; however, effect of this treatment was not significant effect on Ca, Zn, Fe and Cu concentration.
Krzepiłko et al. (2015) who reported I positive affected the uptake of Mg, Na, Ca and Fe but negative
affected Cr uptake in the spinach plant. Smolen and Sady (2011), I treatment was increased the
concentrations of Na, Fe, Zn and Al and reduced concentrations of P, S, Cu and Ba concentrations. All
of these results show that levels of mineral element concentrations can be change due to the level of I,
and Zn treatment and plant genotypes. All of these results of different researcher were showed that
concentrations of some essential and non-essential element can change by the levels of treatments and
plant cultivars.
Table 4. Effect of combined iodine, iron and zinc treatment on plant and fruit P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Na, Si and Al concentrations
Plant (g kg-1 DW)
Treatments
P K S Ca Mg Na Si Al
Control 1.85±0.16 27.80±1.43 7.20±0.97 34.7±5.62 5.90±1.27 3.60±0.88 2.20±0.17 0.58±0.06
10 I-Fe-Zn 2.16±0.11 28.83±1.74 8.35±0.60 36.9±3.09 6.52±0.63 3.98±0.67 2.08±0.13 0.48±0.02
20 I-Fe-Zn 2.05±0.27 27.98±1.51 8.48±0.54 39.2±1.60 6.45±0.34 3.40±0.65 2.09±0.11 0.53±0.02
40 I-Fe-Zn 2.02±0.05 24.59±0.32 8.77±0.51 41.4±1.78 6.80±0.38 3.60±0.31 2.17±0.11 0.48±0.02
F 0.60 1.86 1.04 0.71 0.25 0.39 0.20 1.84
LSD ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Fruit (g kg-1 DW)
Control 3.24±0.17 39.29±1.68 1.61±0.09 0.76±0.05 b 1.17±0.11 0.25±0.00 b 0.69±0.02 b 0.32±0.02
10 I-Fe-Zn 3.52±0.15 42.77±2.13 1.79±0.12 0.68± 0.02 b 1.18±0.17 0.24±0.00 b 0.68± 0.01 b 0.32±0.00
20 I-Fe-Zn 3.33±0.12 43.39±2.47 1.75±0.07 0.81±0.06 b 1.01±0.08 0.32±0.06 b 0.79±0.03 a 0.37±0.01
40 I-Fe-Zn 3.89±0.32 49.88±4.21 2.10±0.16 1.08±0.11 a 1.29±0.14 0.97±0.38 a 0.75±0.02 a 0.32±0.02
F 1.94 2.50 3.22 6.23 0.83 3.29 5.81 2.43
LSD ns ns ns 0.21** ns 0.60* 0.06** ns
ns non-significant; * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01

Levels of treatment had no statistically significant effect on the Cu, Mn, Mo, Cl, Al, Ni, Co and
Ce concentrations of the plant and fruit (Table 5).
Table 5. Effect of combined iodine, iron and zinc treatment on plant and fruit Cu, Mn, Mo, Cl, Al, Ni, Co and Ce
concentrations
Plant (g kg-1 DW)
Treatments
Cu Mn Mo Cl Ni Co Ce
Control 7.08±0.69 55.0±6.50 1.43±0.09 16.3±3.17 3.48±0.77 1.93±0.47 14.55±1.27
10 I-Fe-Zn 7.58±0.21 58.1±6.15 2.58±0.32 17.4±0.60 3.95±0.45 1.93±0.40 15.00±2.00
20 I-Fe-Zn 6.73±0.98 54.3±3.78 2.25±0.66 16.9±1.06 3.75±0.47 2.70±0.34 14.57±1.57
40 I-Fe-Zn 6.10±0.57 51.5±1.94 1.93±0.27 16.7±0.65 3.33±0.36 2.35±0.79 15.88±1.07
F 0.85 0.30 1.55 0.08 0.27 0.50 0.17
LSD ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Fruit (g kg-1 DW)
Control 7.15±0.58 11.20±0.35 1.43±0.08 4.16±0.25 1.58±0.15 0.73±0.06 16.25±2.16
10 I-Fe-Zn 7.80±0.65 12.40±0.84 1.75±0.10 4.95±1.16 2.50±0.35 0.95±0.25 14.57±1.92
20 I-Fe-Zn 7.60±0.22 14.15±1.54 2.45±0.56 4.28±0.41 2.10±0.24 0.88±0.28 18.32±1.93
40 I-Fe-Zn 9.10±0.88 19.57±3.98 1.68±0.37 5.09±0.54 3.65±1.48 1.92±1.04 16.40±1.51
F 1.79 2.88 1.67 0.47 1.29 0.97 0.66
LSD ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
ns, non-significant.

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Biofortification treatments at all levels had no significant effect on Cr, Ti, Ga, Rb and Ba
concentrations both plant and fruits out of the Br concentration of plant. Compared to the control, Br
concentration in the plants and Sr concentration of fruits significantly increased; however, there were no
effect on the other elements (Table 6).
Table 6. Effect of combined iodine, iron and zinc treatment on plant and fruit Cr, Ti, Ga, Br, Rb, Ba and Sr concentrations
Plant (mg kg-1 DW)
Treatments
Cr Ti Ga Br Rb Ba Sr
Control 4.43±0.96 49.95±6.58 0.50±0.12 20.68±3.29 b 3.03±0.29 50.28±5.51 222±31.70
10 I-Fe-Zn 5.63±1.50 52.17±3.68 0.48±0.12 27.23± 1.07 a 3.45±0.19 51.65±2.36 227±19.30
20 1 I-Fe-Zn 5.67±1.42 59.55±6.77 0.78±0.30 28.80±0.74 a 3.35±0.16 52.40±3.23 244±7.92
40 I-Fe-Zn 4.33±0.51 67.05±6.48 0.55±0.13 28.72±1.82 a 2.93±0.17 53.95±0.44 260±9.83
F 0.40 1.66 0.56 3.75 1.51 0.20 0.79
LSD ns ns ns 6.13* ns ns ns
Fruit (mg kg-1 DW)
Control 2.53±0.09 3.58±1.22 0.30±0.07 4.38±0.86 4.38±0.34 12.40±2.16 5.53±0.90 b
10 I-Fe-Zn 3.30±0.80 3.35±1.04 0.45±0.10 4.45±0.16 4.80±0.15 6.63±0.43 4.20±0.25 b
20 I-Fe-Zn 2.75±0.10 1.73±0.13 0.23±0.03 5.30±0.72 4.85±0.23 9.35±1.90 5.15±0.48 b
40 I-Fe-Zn 3.20±0.27 1.87±0.09 0.38±0.11 6.30±0.62 5.93±0.58 11.10±2.94 7.70±0.84 a
F 0.74 1.44 1.30 1.94 3.29 1.45 4.81*
LSD ns ns ns ns ns ns 2.08
ns non-significant; *P < 0.05

Levels of combined I-Fe-Zn treatments had no statistically significant effects on the concentrations
of Sn, Cs, Ge, Sb, Ta, Te and Hf both plant and fruits (Table 7).
Table 7. Effect of combined iodine, iron and zinc treatment on plant and fruit Sn, Cs, Ge, Sb, Ta, Te and Hf concentrations
Plant (mg kg-1 DW)
Treatments
Sn Cs Ge Sb Ta Te Hf
Control 0.95±0.16 5.70±0.82 0.23±0.03 0.88±0.03 1.20±0.21 1.08±0.16 1.35±0.16
10 I-Fe-Zn 0.85±0.03 5.63±1.26 0.20±0.01 0.95±0.03 1.45±0.06 1.48±0.11 1.40±0.39
20 I-Fe-Zn 0.90±0.00 4.23±0.31 0.20±0.01 0.95±0.12 1.05±0.25 1.40±0.04 1.58±0.19
40 I-Fe-Zn 0.95±0.03 4.23±0.06 0.20±0.01 0.95±0.09 1.35±0.27 1.53±0.33 1.33±0.18
F 0.35 1.17 1.00 0.24 0.65 1.10 0.21
LSD n.s n.s n.s n.s n.s n.s n.s
Fruit (mg kg-1 DW)
Control 1.05±0.32 5.53±0.83 0.15±0.03 0.85±0.03 1.15±0.03 1.53±0.26 1.00±0.11
10 I-Fe-Zn 0.93±0.13 4.15±0.03 0.40±0.20 0.88±0.03 1.20±0.04 1.23±0.19 1.63±0.23
20 I-Fe-Zn 0.83±0.03 5.95±1.18 0.15±0.03 0.85±0.03 1.05±0.16 1.28±0.03 1.10±0.15
40 I-Fe-Zn 0.85±0.05 4.20±0.01 0.23±0.03 0.90±0.06 2.78±1.85 1.25±0.03 3.72±2.33
F 0.34 1.64 1.32 0.41 0.78 0.74 1.17
LSD ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
ns, non-significant

CONCLUSION
Especially in developing countries, people needs daily intake such as Fe, Zn and I which essential
for people. This study is the first proof to determine the effect of combined I-Fe-Zn treatments on
concentrations of I, Fe and Zn with yield and it shows that biofortification was an important way to
eliminate of these three elements deficiency in plants.
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