Zinc Bio-Fortification in Food Crops to Alleviate zinc Malnutrition

Malnutrition due to inadequate dietary intake of micronutrients particularly zinc is detrimental to human health. Zinc is an important constituent of enzymes and proteins in plants, animals and humans. It is estimated that about 10% of all the protein in the human body i.e. about 3000 proteins are zinc dependent. Zinc deficiency not only causes low crop productivity, but also results in low zinc content in grains, which leads to poor dietary Zn uptake. The main concern of green revolution was also placed on increased yields but not on quality food production. In developing countries, agricultural products are a major source of nutrients and one of the possible and effective alternative ways to overcome these shortcomings is to enhance zinc concentration in edible grains by fertilization (agronomic intervention). Agronomic bio-fortification with zinc, either through soil and/or foliar application is an easy and effective way to improve the crop growth, yield, and grain quality with zinc micronutrient.