Importance of nickel in crops

Abstract

Prolonged and unbalanced use of chemicals, leads to destruction of physical structure of soil, disturbed biological condition of soil and also change the chemical equilibrium of soil, which in turn affects the availability of other essential nutrients in the soil matrix. Out of seven essential micronutrient (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mo, Mn, B, and Ni) Ni is one of the recently added essential plant nutrient. Nickel is an important metal for plants, which fulfils a variety of vital roles in plants functions. Also, Ni is a constituent of several metallo-enzymes which are actively engaged in Nitrogen metabolism and biological Nitrogen fixation. As it plays a major part in plant metabolism and other mechanisms, Ni deficiency can produce variety of negative impacts on growth and metabolism of plants. A very limited data is available on uptake of Ni in crop plants as most of the studies were conducted by keeping its toxicity problem in view rather than its deficiency.