The zinc content in peanut seed is governed by its size andCa and P nutrition

Abstract

Peanut is an important food legume of the tropical and subtropical world from where about 42 million tonne of its pods is produced annually. With its high-energy, protein and minerals, it has a unique place in human consumption world-wide, right from raw to several value added products and fortification with cereals. Zinc (Zn) is an essential nutrient and its deficiency has a strong impact on human health, but the Zn content in edible parts of most of the food crops is low world-wide mainly due to their cultivation on Zn deficient soils. As a result a large proportion of the population, in Asian and African countries, is at risk of Zn deficiency. Peanut is a good source of Zn and its consumption may be a solution to ensure its adequate level (Singh and Chaudhari, 2015). However, there is variation in seed size of peanut mainly depending on their pod size, soil type and phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) nutrition. Thus an effort was made to study the influence of P and Ca fertilizers on Zn concentrations in various seed size peanuts.