Agronomic bio-fortification of iron and zinc through nanofertilizers: A review

The task of feeding the global human population estimated at 9.6 billion by 2050 and more than 3 billion people around the world suffer from micronutrient deficiency specially Zn and Fe, due to the consumption of poor-quality food. Micronutrient malnutrition or the hidden hunger is most prevalent amid women and preschool children triggered chiefly by low dietary intake of micronutrients. Biofortification is the process of fostering the bioavailable concentrations of essential elements in edible portions of crop plants by way of agronomic intervention or genetic selection, may perhaps be the solution to malnutrition or hidden hunger mitigation. It provides a comparatively cost effective, sustainableand long-term means of delivering more micronutrients. Thus, the time is to apply nanoparticles or nanofertilizers in solving some of these problems. Nanofertilizers can easily get absorbed by plants due to their high surface area to volume ratio. The sizes and morphologies of nanoparticles are however strong factors that determine the level of bio-accessibility by the plants from the soil. Nanofertilizers will allow controlled release of nutrients, so that this exactly synchronized with the nutritional needs of the crops and helps in improving the accumulation of nutrients in the plant. The plants applied with nanofertilizers not only grow but also accumulate such nutrients, which bridges the gap of nutrient deficiency.