Abstract
The world population is expanding rapidly and will likely be 8 billion by the year 2025. Limited availability of additional arable land and water resources, and the declining trend in crop yields globally makes food security a major challenge in the 21st century. According to the projections, food production on presently used land must be doubled in the next two decades to meet food demand of the growing world population. To achieve the required huge increase in food production, large enhancements in application of fertilisers and improvements of soil fertility are indispensable approaches. Presently, in many developing countries, poor soil fertility, low levels of available mineral nutrients in soil, improper nutrient management, along with the lack of plant genotypes having high tolerance of nutrient deficiencies or toxicities are major constraints contributing to food insecurity, malnutrition (i.e., micronutrient deficiencies) and ecosystem degradation. Plant nutrition research provides invaluable information highly useful in elimination of these constraints, and thus, sustaining food security and well-being of humans without harming the environment. The fact that at least 60% of cultivated soils has growth-limiting problems with mineral-nutrient deficiencies and toxicities, and about 50% of the world population suffers from micronutrient deficiencies makes plant nutrition research a major promising research area in meeting the global demand for high food production with enhanced nutritional value in this millennium. Integration of plant nutrition research with plant genetics and molecular biology is indispensable in developing plant genotypes with high genetic ability to adapt to nutrient deficient and toxic soil conditions and to allocate more micronutrients into edible plant products such as cereal grains.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bouis H 1996 Nutrition Rev 54, 131–137.
Cakmak I, Yιlmaz A, Ekiz H, Torun B, Erenoglu B and Braun HJ 1996 Plant Soil 180, 165–172.
Cakmak I, Kalaycι M, Ekiz H, Braun HJ and Yιlmaz A 1999 Field Crops Res. 60, 175–188.
Cakmak I 2000 New Phytol. 146, 185–205.
De La Fuente-Martinez JM and Herrera-Estrella L 1999 Adv. Agron. 66, 103–120.
Dyson T 1999 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 5929–5936.
FAO, 2000 Fertiliser Requirements in 2015 and 2030, Rome, Italy.
Graham R and Rengel Z 1993 In Micronutrients in Agriculture. Eds. JJ Mordvedt, FR Cox, LM Shuman, and RM Welch. pp. 329–370. Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, Wisconsin.
Graham RD, Ascher JS and Hynes SC 1992 Plant Soil 146, 241–250.
Gruhn P, Goletti F and Yudelman M 2000 Integrated Nutrient Management, Soil Fertility, and Sustainable Agriculture: Current Issues And Future Challenges. Discussion Paper 32. Washington DC: IFPRI.
Guerinot ML 2000 Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1465, 190–198.
Henao J and Baanante 1999 Nutrient Depletion in the Agricultural Soils of Africa. 2020 Vision Brief 62. Washington, DC: IFPRI.
Herrera-Estrella L 1999 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 5978–5981.
Higgs B, Johnston AE, Salter JL and Dawson CJ 2000 J. Environ. Qual. 29, 80–87.
Hirsh RE and Sussman MR 1999 Trends Biotechnol. 17, 356–361.
James C 1997 Progressing Public-Private Sector Partnerships in International Agricultural Research and Development. ISAAA Briefs No 4, Ithaca, NY.
Loneragan JF 1997 Plant Soil 196, 163–174.
Marschner H 1995 Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego.
Miflin B 2000 J. Exp. Bot. 51, 1–8.
Mori S 1999 Iron acquisition by plants. Current Opin. Plant Biol. 2, 250–253.
Pinstrup-Andersen P, Pandya-Lorch R and Rosegrant MW 1999 World Food Prospects: Critical Issues for the Early Twenty-First Century. 2020 Vision Food Policy Report. Washington, DC: IFPRI.
Rengel Z, Batten GD and Crowley DE 1999 Field Crops Res. 60, 27–40.
Raghothama KG 2000 Current Opin. Plant Biol. 3, 182–187.
Socolow RH 1999 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 6001–6008.
Snapp SS, Mafongoya L and Waddington S 1998 Agric. Ecosys. Environ. 71, 185–200.
Tilman D 1999 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 5995–6000.
Takkar PN, Chibba IM and Mehta SK 1989 Twenty Years of Co-ordinated Research of Micronutrients in Soil and Plants (1967–1987). Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal IISS, Bull.
Tandon HLS 1998 In Proceedings of the IFPRI/FAO Workshop on Soil Fertility, Plant Nutrient Management, and Sustainable Agriculture: The Future Through 2020. Eds. P Gruhn, F Goletti and RN Roy. Washington, DC: IFPRI, FAO, Rome.
Vansuyt G, Mench M and Briat JF 2000 Plant Physiol. Biochem. 38, 499–506.
Von Wiren N, Lauter FR, Ninneman O, Gillisen B, Walch-Liu P, Engels C, Jost W and Frommer WB 2000 Plant J. 21, 167–175.
Welch RM and Graham RD 1999 Field Crops Res. 60, 1–10
Yadav RL, Dwivedi BS, Prasad K, Tomar OK, Shurpali NJ and Pandey PS 2000 Field Crops Res. 68, 219–246.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cakmak, I. (2001). Plant nutrition research: Priorities to meet human needs for food in sustainable ways. In: Horst, W.J., et al. Plant Nutrition. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 92. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47624-X_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47624-X_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-7105-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47624-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive