Genetic Engineering to Enhance Rice Survival in Nutrient-Deficient Soil

Abstract

Nutrient deficiency occurs in plants either by the inadequacy of nutrients in the soil or by their unavailability in plant-absorbable forms. Nutrient deficiency is a very old issue caused by increased food demand by humans, which has resulted in the development of varieties with enhanced nutrient-uptake. Inadequacy of nutrients in the soil is a major threat to food crops affecting their yield. After the Green Revolution, extensive agriculture, which was praised as a boon for humans, has become the multifaceted anathema in the form of exhaustion of natural soil minerals, expensive farm inputs, and destruction of the environment. Nutrient depletion in the soil directly causes enormous stress to the plant and hinders the normal physiological processes, endangering survival. Rice, which is a staple food of more than half of the population of the world, is especially affected negatively by all these above problems, particularly by nutrient deficiency in soil, which may worsen in the near future. The only workable way out to minimize the after-effects of high inputs of chemical fertilizer on plant and environment is to reduce their use, which decreases farm production. Therefore, reduced nutrient input should be practiced with such varieties that can better perform under a low supply of nutrients. Rice gene pool is rich with variabilities for nutrient response including low nutrient tolerance, which can be used to develop low nutrient-tolerant varieties. In the recent past, various experiments to enhance the expression of genes related to metal chelators and transporters phytase and iron storage proteins have been carried out successfully. Many genes have been found to successfully induce nutrient deficiency tolerance in rice (Oryza Sativa L.). Here, we will review the deficiency of major nutrients in rice soils, all possible mechanisms to combat their deficiency and the progress made in developing nutrient starvation-tolerant rice crops using genetic engineering techniques.