Chapter 10 - Physiological mechanisms and adaptation strategies of plants under nutrient deficiency and toxicity conditions

Abstract

Presently, the world is suffering from the declining trend of crop yields globally, making food security a major challenge. The limited availability of arable land and water resources has made this challenge even bigger. Recent research-based studies depict that, in many developing countries, poor soil fertility, lower availability of mineral nutrients in soil, improper nutrient management, along with the lack of plant genotypes having high tolerance to nutrient deficiencies or toxicities are major constraints leading to food insecurity, malnutrition (i.e., micronutrient deficiencies), and degradation of ecosystem. It has been stated that 60% of our cultivated soils have growth-limiting problems with deficiencies and toxicities of available mineral nutrients. About 50% of the world population suffers from micronutrient deficiencies that make mineral nutrition studies a major promising area in meeting the global demand for sufficient food production with enhanced nutritional value. Integration of plant adaptation strategies in such soils using genetics and plant breeding and molecular biology is indispensable in developing plant genotypes with high genetic potential to acclimatize such nutrient-deficient and toxic soil conditions to translocate more micronutrients into edible plant parts such as cereal grains. Thus, plant nutrition research provides invaluable information, which is highly useful in elimination of these constraints, and leads to sustain the food security and well-being of humans without harming the environment. Keeping all these points in mind this chapter helps in understanding the mechanisms and strategies of plant in nutrient-deficient and toxic soil conditions.