There is evidence that agronomic biofortification can increase yields and the nutritional quality of staple crops. Reports show that micronutrients enhance crop nutritional quality, crop yield, biomass production, and resiliency to drought, pest, and diseases. Biofortification is mainly focused on starchy staple crops (rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, sweet potato and legumes).
Fertilization approach is cheaper, faster and safer and can be applied to a number of crops. The application of micronutrients at appropriate stage with the right concentration is important, which plays a major role in obtaining promising results.
Micronutrient fertilization is most effective in combination with NPK (nitrogen phosphorus-potassium), organic fertilizers and improved crop varieties, highlighting the importance of integrated soil fertility management. Agronomic biofortification provides an immediate and effective route to enhancing micronutrient concentrations in edible crop products, although genetic biofortification may be more cost effective in the long run.
Agronomic biofortification provides an effective route to increase Selenium content in edible crop products via application of Se-enriched fertilizers to soil or by foliar application. The most common cereals in the human diet are wheat, rice, maize, and barley, making them the most suitable targets for agronomic biofortification.
Agronomic biofortification
