AUTHOR=Piccinelli Fabio , Sega Davide , Melchior Andrea , Ruggieri Silvia , Sanadar Martina , Varanini Zeno , Zamboni Anita 

TITLE=Regreening properties of the soil slow-mobile H2bpcd/Fe3+ complex: Steps forward to the development of a new environmentally friendly Fe fertilizer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.964088

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.964088

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>The application of synthetic Fe-chelates stands for the most established agronomical practice to alleviate lime-induced chlorosis, which still constitutes a major agronomic problem. However, the percolation through the soil profile due to the negative charge of the most deployed molecules results in agronomical and environmental problems. H<sub>2</sub>bpcd/Fe<sup>3+</sup> complex features distinctive chemical characteristics, including moderate stability of the Fe(bpcd)<sup>+</sup> species (log<italic>β<sub><italic>ML</italic></sub></italic> = 20.86) and a total positive charge, and we studied its behavior in soil and regreening effects on cucumber plants. Soil column experiments have underlined that H<sub>2</sub>bpcd/Fe<sup>3+</sup> is retained in more amounts than EDDHA/Fe<sup>3+</sup>. The new ligand was not proven to be toxic for the cucumber and maize seedlings. A concentration of 20 μM H<sub>2</sub>bpcd/Fe<sup>3+</sup> attained regreening of Fe-deficient cucumber plants grown in the hydroponic solution supplied with CaCO<sub>3,</sub> similar to that shown by EDDHA/Fe<sup>3+</sup>. Experiments with a 2 μM concentration of <sup>57</sup>Fe showed that cucumber roots absorbed H<sub>2</sub>bpcd/<sup>57</sup>Fe<sup>3+</sup> at a slower rate than EDTA/<sup>57</sup>Fe<sup>3+</sup>. The high kinetic inertness of H<sub>2</sub>bpcd/Fe<sup>3+</sup> may explain such behavior.</p>