Mitigation of Iron Deficiency in Aerobic Rice with Biological Interventions in Inceptisol

Aerobic rice, an alternative to lowland rice in water scarce conditions, faces iron (Fe) deficiency impacting grain quality, plant, and human health. Hence, mitigation of Fe deficiency in aerobic rice is foremost important as rice is an important staple food all over the world. In the present investigation various biological intervention were used to solubilize the native Fe in soil. An incubation study was conducted at 25 ± 1^oC to understand Fe release kinetics in Fe deficient (FeDS) and Fe sufficient soil (FeSS) as affected by microorganisms and low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs) with five models, at moisture content set to 75% of saturation. A pot experiment was also conducted to explore strategies for managing Fe deficiency in FeDS and FeSS using two rice genotypes, Danteshwari and Sona Mahsuri, in aerobic conditions. The release of Fe in FeDS and FeSS was best explained by the pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations in their non-linear form, which displayed the highest coefficient of determination (R² = 0.99) values and the lowest RMSE (0.24, 0.34 and 0.15, 0.27, respectively). There was a positive response to biological interventions in the performance of both rice genotypes in terms of active Fe, grain Fe content and yield under the applied treatments, particularly under FeDS. The seed treatment with a consortium of Pseudomonas plecoglossida and Panteo agglomerans resulted in highest grain Fe content (increased by 14.2% in Danteshwari and 13.82% in Sona Mahsuri over control). On an average, the grain yield increased by 53% in Danteshwari and 42.5% in Sona Mahsuri with applied microorganisms and LMWOAs. These research findings offer valuable insights into the role of biological interventions in mitigating Fe deficiency in rice plants under FeDS and FeSS for the promotion of sustainable rice production in aerobic conditions.