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Plant Nutrients and Abiotic Stress Tolerance pp 119–136Cite as

Biofortification of Plant Nutrients: Present Scenario

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Abstract

A huge portion of global population is facing nutrient deficiency; particularly peoples of developing countries are the foremost sufferers. Although much development has been made till now, the problem of malnutrition seems to be unsettled. Recent estimates suggested that this problem will become more pronounced in the upcoming years. Unfortunately all of our key edible crops are deficient of certain vital micronutrients and vitamins which are crucial for normal growth, such as milled cereal grains which are deprived of lysine, vitamin A, folic acid, iron, zinc and selenium. Several strategies are there to enhance the quality and quantity of edible crops; among them biofortification seems to be an emerging tool to solve this malnutrition problem by elevating the concentration of bioavailable vitamins and nutrients. Biofortification is a cost-effective technique as there is only single time investment in research; it improves nutritional status of those crops which lack sufficient quantity of nutrients and is sustainable also because seeds and proliferation materials can be stored for long time. This approach owns great promise in achieving improved nutritional status of peoples and should carry on to be explored. The main focus of present chapter is to give a broad outlook of causes and solutions for micronutrient malnutrition in the world and also to discuss the current information, developments and future potential of biofortification for improvement of major edible crops.

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Acknowledgement

The author Sonal Dixit is grateful to DSKPDF Cell, Pune, India, and University Grant Commission, New Delhi, India, for the award of the D.S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship (F4-2/2006 (BSR)/BL/15-16/0156).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India

    Sonal Dixit, Rajni Shukla & Yogesh Kumar Sharma

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  1. Sonal Dixit
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  2. Rajni Shukla
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Mirza Hasanuzzaman

  2. Department of Applied Biological Science, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, Japan

    Masayuki Fujita

  3. Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan

    Hirosuke Oku

  4. Department of Agricultural Botany, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Kamrun Nahar

  5. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Life Sciences, Lublin, Poland

    Barbara Hawrylak-Nowak

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Dixit, S., Shukla, R., Sharma, Y.K. (2018). Biofortification of Plant Nutrients: Present Scenario. In: Hasanuzzaman, M., Fujita, M., Oku, H., Nahar, K., Hawrylak-Nowak, B. (eds) Plant Nutrients and Abiotic Stress Tolerance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-9044-8_4

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