Reaction of Camelina sativa L. oil profile to nano-iron and nano-zinc foliar application with farmyard manure

Abstract

Climate change has intensified nutrient deficiencies in soils of semi-arid regions, largely due to low organic matter, high pH levels and harsh environmental conditions. This study investigates how the combined application of nanostructured iron and zinc micronutrients with farmyard manure influences the oil quality of Camelina sativa L. The experiment was based on three levels of farmyard manure application (0, 10 and 20 t ha-1) and foliar sprays of nanostructured micronutrients at 300 ppm (water, nanostructured zinc and nanostructured iron). The oil extracted from the camelina seeds was analyzed for its fatty acids profile. The principal component analysis showed that the first two components explained 66 and 22 % of the total variance, respectively. Among the treatments, the combination of 10 t ha-1 of farmyard manure with nanostructured zinc foliar application resulted in the most notable improvement in the oil quality, significantly enhancing the levels of linolenic, oleic, docosanoic and total saturated fatty acids. It also demonstrated the strongest ability to represent and discriminate traits. Applying higher levels of manure (20 t ha-1) led to a decrease in the linolenic acid content, suggesting that the excessive organic input may negatively affect the oil’s nutritional profile. However, the combination of 20 t ha-1 of manure with nanostructured iron yielded the highest content of docosahexaenoic acid. Nanostructured zinc showed to be more effective than nanostructured iron in improving the camelina oil quality.

KEYWORDS: Fatty acid profile, nanostructured micronutrients, treatment-by-trait biplot.