Zinc mediated agronomic bio-fortification of wheat and rice for sustaining food and health security: A review

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) is essential for growth and development of plants, animals and human beings. Its deficiency poses a serious challenge for crop production, especially for wheat and rice, which are considered as staple food crops in most of the developing countries. Beside plants, health related issues in human beings also reported due to deficiency of Zn, which calls for suitable research strategies that can boost the yield and quality of crops, Zn concentration in the grains of cereals such as rice and wheat, increase Zn bio-availability in diets. Across the globe several strategies viz., supplementation, pharmaceutical preparation, food fortification and dietary diversification have been attempted to solve the problem of Zn deficiency induced malnutrition but the agronomic biofortification seems more feasible option particularly in developing countries, where other alternative could prove costly. It could easily be achieved through improved approaches such as integrated nutrient management (INM) and integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) because these helps in enhancing the uptake of micronutrients like Zn, particularly in deficient soils. Though, agronomic biofortification helps to reduce the health hazards still more research efforts are needed to solve the problem of malnutrition and food insecurity for a better and healthy future.