Incorporating foliar zinc (Zn) application into common management, e.g. foliar application of pesticides, KH₂PO₄ or biostimulants, is a feasible agronomic strategy to biofortify wheat with Zn. However, in this study, both environmental conditions and foliar Zn management, e.g. Zn forms and spray regimes (alone or combined) contributed to the magnitude of grain Zn enrichment, which accounted for 20–37% and 35–45% of explained variation, respectively. The study highlights that management and environment interactions need to be considered in agronomic biofortification of food crops with micronutrients.

This study clarified the effect of grain position, and sucrose and Zn supply level on grain weight, and Zn, Fe and protein contents under detached-ear culture. Results showed that the central spikelets had a higher grain weight and nutrient content than did basal and apical spikelets; increasing Zn and sucrose supply improved grain weight and grain Zn, Fe and protein content, and the increasing percentage was higher in the central spikelet than in apical/basal spikelet. This study has provided a reference for manipulating grain weight and grain Zn, Fe and protein content.

Plant growth relies on the bioavailability of essential nutrients in their growth environment. Access to mineral nutrient is challenging for plants grown in alkaline soil, and in these environments, the postharvest application may be effective. Mineral fortification of harvested tomatoes by ZnO nanoparticles enhanced their Zn content by 17%.

Malnutrition of iron (Fe) in cereals occurs worldwide, particularly, Fe deficiency is more apparent in food crops grown on high-pH soils. Agronomic biofortification seems a feasible solution; however, accumulation and bioavailability of Fe may vary with application method and crop management regime. The presented study, for the first time, reports the comparative efficacy of various Fe application methods (seed coating, osmopriming, surface broadcasting, foliar application) on paddy yield, net benefits, grain Fe accumulation, bioavailability, and Fe-use efficiencies in conventional (puddled transplanted rice) and conservational (direct-seeded aerobic rice) production systems.

Agronomic biofortification improves the nutritional value of plant-based foods and, therefore, aids human nutrition. Biofortification for producing selenium-rich common bean grains added selenium for humans and activated the plant’s defence system to face water stress that they were exposed to. Biofortification with selenium enriches crops and it is a valuable agricultural tool to improve food security and face climate change.

Selenium availability in soils is influenced by phosphate and sulfate. This study evaluated Se desorption by these anions and Se biofortification of grass under phosphate fertilisation rates, showing that Se desorption upon increasing S or P rate depends on soil attributes and that Se desorbed from soils and absorbed by the grass increased with increasing P rate. These findings are useful because P and S additions are soil management practices that also may be used to increase soil Se availability.

Iron and zinc are among the key micronutrients essential for human health and normal growth of body. Conventional breeding approaches are laborious and time-consuming compared with advanced breeding approaches such as CRISPR-Cas9, and have had little success with Fe biofortification. Precise editing by CRISPR-Cas9 will help to enhance the Fe and Zn content in cereals without any linkage-drag and biosafety issues.

Micronutrient malnutrition is a global; therefore, in the present study we evaluated advanced breeding lines of wheat for grain Zn and Fe concentrations for selection of the most promising genotypes. Genetic diversity and genes for Zn and Fe concentrations were identified for wheat molecular breeding programs. The promising genotypes and useful genes identified for Zn and Fe concentrations will prove useful in alleviating micronutrient malnutrition.

Phytic acid is a major anti-nutritional factor in maize grains that significantly reduces the bioavailability of minerals such as iron and zinc in humans, leading to micronutrient malnutrition. We developed and evaluated genetically diverse maize inbreds with lpa1-1 gene that possess low phytic acid, good agronomic performance and grain yield. These inbreds would offer great potential in development of low-phytate maize hybrids with highly bioavailable minerals in the maize-based diet, to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies in humans.

We studied the relationship between grain micronutrient content and grain yield components, and their associated structures in doubled haploid bread wheat lines. A wide range of phenotypic variation was observed for all traits. Best performing doubled haploid lines showing high values for both grain iron and zinc concentrations, together with high values for one or more grain yield components, were identified.

In terms of biofortification strategies, spring wheat Almaken and Zhenis M₅ mutant lines produced via irradiation with 200 Gy gamma and parents were analysed for the expression of genes involved in iron homeostasis under normal and iron-deficient levels of growth conditions. Genotype-dependent and tissue-specific gene expression differences in response to iron deficiency were revealed that provide new insights into Fe translocation, storage, and regulation in wheat.

Legumes are one of the largest and most cultivated crops in the world. Unfortunately, Fe deficiency is among the important abiotic constraints that reduce legumes productivity around the world. The results of the present study revealed the importance of the efficiency of antioxidant system in barrel medic (plant model of legumes) to cope with Fe deficiency.

In this review article the arsenic problem in rice in south and south-east Asia and possible mitigation techniques are discussed. During cultivation, agronomic sustainable strategies like water management, soil amendment, fertiliser amendment selection of rice cultivar for arsenic reduction in rice are presented. Post harvesting, processing techniques, and cooking methods to achieve arsenic reduction at personal level are discussed. The socioeconomic aspects of the arsenic problem are also reviewed.

Cadmium and arsenic contamination of agricultural lands poses a serious threat to the environment and crop productivity. Although both are detoxified via a common detoxification pathway, we found that they mostly trigger distinct physiological and biochemical responses in Brassica juncea plants. The data are valuable for design of strategies for sustainable growth of plants on cadmium and arsenic polluted soils.

Contamination of arsenic (As) presents a health hazard that affects home gardeners neighbouring contaminated environments. Chitosan modified biochar (BR-C) and as-is biochars are vital due to their role in removing As(V) from an aqueous environment using zucchini as a test crop. Results showed that BR-C, can increase the sorption capacity of As from polluted water and resist the uptake of As form the crop.

This review highlights the biological remediation technique (i.e. organic residues–plant–microbes) for bioremediation to the natural environment, and seeks an appropriate method for investigating the biosorption, bioaccumulation and bioavailability of heavy metals in soil before selecting a remediation technology for metal remediation from soil. The review finds that plant-microbe-metals interactions and microbial-assisted phytoremediation are essential for heavy metals remediation from contaminated soils.