Globally, many developing countries are facing silent epidemics of nutritional deficiencies in human beings and animals. The lack of diversity in diet, i.e., cereal-based crops deficient in mineral nutrients is an additional threat to nutritional quality. The present review accounts for the significance of biofortification as a process to enhance the productivity of crops and also an agricultural solution to address the issues of nutritional security. In this endeavor, different innovative and specific biofortification approaches have been discussed for nutrient enrichment of field crops including cereals, pulses, oilseeds and fodder crops. The agronomic approach increases the micronutrient density in crops with soil and foliar application of fertilizers including amendments. The biofortification through conventional breeding approach includes the selection of efficient genotypes, practicing crossing of plants with desirable nutritional traits without sacrificing agricultural and economic productivity. However, the transgenic/biotechnological approach involves the synthesis of transgenes for micronutrient re-translocation between tissues to enhance their bioavailability. Soil microorganisms enhance nutrient content in the rhizosphere through diverse mechanisms such as synthesis, mobilization, transformations and siderophore production which accumulate more minerals in plants. Different sources of micronutrients viz. mineral solutions, chelates and nanoparticles play a pivotal role in the process of biofortification as it regulates the absorption rates and mechanisms in plants. Apart from the quality parameters, biofortification also improved the crop yield to alleviate hidden hunger thus proving to be a sustainable and cost-effective approach. Thus, this review article conveys a message for researchers about the adequate potential of biofortification to increase crop productivity and nourish the crop with additional nutrient content to provide food security and nutritional quality to humans and livestock.

Water deficit is one of the major factors limiting the production of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.). A study of the effects of limited water condition on yield components and their relationship with productivity can aid breeding programs in selecting for high yielding genotypes under this condition. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships among the parameters stalk number, stalk height, stalk diameter, and stalk weight with cane yield in sugarcane growing in a field under moderate water stress during its grand growth period, in order to provide information to help breeders in adopting traits for selecting drought tolerant varieties. Seventy-eight genotypes plus two controls, one drought-tolerant and one drought-susceptible, were grown under a moderate water deficit condition in the field in 2005/2006 at Weslaco, TX. Productivity and yield components were measured. Under stress, the tolerant control (TCP93-4245) showed higher productivity, stalk number, stalk height and stalk weight than the susceptible one (TCP87-3388). However, the susceptible control showed higher stalk diameter. Linear association was found between productivity and its yield components, but stalk diameter showed to be fairly unstable among genotypes. Stalk height showed significant correlation with stalk number, stalk diameter and stalk weight. Stalk diameter also showed positive correlation with stalk weight. Therefore, during the selection procedure, when one of these traits is enhanced by drought tolerance, the correlated trait should also increase, making it feasible to select genotypes with high productivity, stalk number, stalk height, and stalk weight under water deficit.

Nanoparticles (NPs), due to their tailored properties, serve as potential sources of nutrients for the biofortification of edible grains. Chickpeas are a valued legume crop, widely consumed in developing countries. Thus, to improve the Zn and Fe content in chickpeas, a two-year study was conducted to examine the potential of the foliar application of mineral (0.5% Zn and Fe), chelated (0.3% Zn and Fe) and nanoforms (0.5% ZFN) of fertilizers to enhance Zn and Fe content in chickpea. The foliar application of 0.5% ZnO NPs + 0.5% Fe₂O₃ NPs (ZFN) at the pre-flowering stage showed the highest potential to increase grain yield, Zn and Fe content and their uptake as a single foliar application of nano-fertilizers showed comparable results to two foliar applications of mineral and chelated forms. The grain and straw yield (14.07 and 33.04 q ha⁻¹, respectively) under ZFN treatment was significantly higher over the control (9.20 and 27.49 q ha⁻¹, respectively). A similar trend was observed for Zn and Fe content in grain (42.29 and 86.51 mg kg⁻¹, respectively). For nutrient uptake, ZFN treatment showed the highest uptake of Zn and Fe in grain (604.49 and 1226.22 g ha⁻¹, respectively) and straw (729.55 and 9184.67 g ha⁻¹, respectively). Thus, nano-fertilizers, due to their altered structural properties, demonstrated higher translocation over the mineral and chelated forms of nutrient fertilizers and thus improved yield and nutrient content to a greater extent. Thus, the foliar application of 0.5% ZnO NPs + 0.5% Fe₂O₃ NPs may prove to be a feasible option for the enrichment of chickpeas with Zn and Fe to ameliorate malnutrition in burgeoning human populations.

Integrated use of chemical fertilizers with organic manure is becoming a quite promising practice to maintain higher crop productivity and to manage soil health, which is otherwise deteriorated due to intensive cultivation and imbalanced fertilizer use. Thus, the present experiment was conducted for combined application of inorganic fertilizers and organic manures for higher yield and nutrient uptake in basmati rice as well as to restore soil health. The treatments applied in the present study involve T1: control, T2: Farmyard manure (15 t ha^-1), T3: Poultry manure (6 t ha^-1), T4: Press mud (15 t ha^-1), T5: Rice straw compost (6 t ha^-1), T6: Farmyard manure (15 t ha^-1) + 50% N (recommended dose of nitrogen), T7: Poultry manure (6 t ha^-1) + 50% N, T8: Press mud (15 t ha^-1) + 50% N, T9: Rice straw compost (6 t ha^-1) + 50% N, T10: 75% N, T11: Farmyard manure (15 t ha¹) + 75% N, T12: Poultry manure (6 t ha^-1) + 75% N, T13: Press mud (15 t ha^-1) + 75% N, T14: Rice straw compost (6 t ha^-1) + 75% N, T15: 100% N. The integrated use of organic manures and inorganic fertilizers significantly increased the grain and straw yield, macronutrients as well as micronutrients uptake in basmati due to the release of nutrients from decomposition of organic manures. Among different treatments, the addition of PM+75% N showed maximum grain yield, straw yield and sustainability yield index (44.53 q ha^-1, 89.67 q ha^-1 and 0.91 respectively) as well as the highest uptake of nitrogen (58.29 and 65.39 kg ha^-1), phosphorus (25.04 and 23.24 kg ha^-1) and potassium (15.26 and 118.95 kg ha^-1) in grain and straw, respectively. Similar results were observed for zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) uptake under treatment involving PM+75% N with values 183.9, 26.18, 339.3 and 355.8 g ha^-1 in grain and 205.3, 25.62, 2627.3 and 278 g ha^-1 in straw, respectively. Additionally, correlation studies showed that the grain and straw yield of basmati exhibited a significantly positive correlation with soil P, Cu and Fe. The study suggested that the partial substitution of inorganic fertilizers with organic manures did not lower crop yield and nutrient uptake. Thus, integrated application of organic and inorganic fertilizers can be used for the sustainability of basmati-wheat system and to retain the soil fertility which is otherwise deteriorated with sole use of inorganic fertilizers.