The Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi in Zinc and Iron Nutrition of Crops

Global agriculture is threatened by growing world food demands and its supply under finite resources with degraded soil fertility and climatic variabilities. The yield of majority of crops is limited due to soil heterogeneity in nutrient availability. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are symbionts of majority of terrestrial land plants, including major agricultural crops. The hyphae network of AMF provides soil stability and helps mutually to plants in water and nutrient uptake. In this chapter, we discussed the role of AMF in Zn and Fe uptake in plants, and the significance of Zn and Fe in plant growth and stress tolerance. Further, we highlighted different mechanisms used by AMF in improving the uptake of Zn and Fe in various crop species.