Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace element for plants as well as for animals and humans. There is a significant relationship between soils, plants and humans Zn status in a certain agro-ecosystem. The objectives of this study were to assess Zn status of soils in 3 arid and semiarid provinces of Iran and to model the relationship between wheat grain Zn and agro-ecosystem parameters. About 137 soil and wheat samples were collected randomly from the agricultural soils of Fars, Isfahan and Qom and were analysed in laboratory. Modeling the relationship between wheat grain Zn and agro-ecosystem parameters was done using least square based and robust methods. The results indicated that total Zn concentration of soils (range, 21-149 mg kg-1 mean, 75.2 mg kg-1) was in normal ranges. The DTPA-extractable Zn concentrations were below the critical level (0.8 mg kg-1) in 16% of the surveyed fields. The Zn concentration in 80% of wheat grains was sufficient (more than 24 mg kg-1) with respect to plant nutrition (range, 11.7-64 mg kg-1 mean, 31.6 mg kg-1). However, Zn bioavailability for consumers was generally low in more than 75% of the samples. This is because of high phytic acid to Zn molar ratio (more than 15). Soil DTPA-extractable Zn and available P were entered in to most of regression models significantly. Regression analysis showed that most of models fitted to wheat grain Zn concentration and soil Zn and influenced by agro-ecosystem parameters had a weak prediction power, despite their high determination coefficient. This means that factors other than those considered here have a strong influence on the uptake of Zn by wheat in these soils.

Keywords: Agro-ecosystem, Zn, Wheat, Modeling.

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