Effect of Long-Term and Short-Term Imbalanced Zn Manipulation on Gut Microbiota and Screening for Microbial Markers Sensitive to Zinc Status

Zn insufficiency is an essential health problem in developing countries. To prevent the occurrence of zinc deficit, zinc fortification and supplementation are widely used.

Agronomic Biofortification of Zinc in Chickpea Varieties in Calcareous Soil

Background: Pulses are wonderful gift of the nature to agriculture. They provide nutrition to human beings and animals as food and feed respectively. Among the pulses, chickpea is an important rabi season crop with high acceptability and wider use in nutritional food basket. A field experiment was carried out on medium black calcareous soil at Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh, Gujarat during rabi season 2017-18 under saurastra condition to evaluate agronomic biofortification of zinc in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties through seed, soil and foliar application. Methods: The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The treatment combinations comprised two varieties viz., GG 1 (V1) and GJG 3 (V2) and six zinc fortification treatments viz., control, seed treatment ZnSO4 @ 3 g kg-1 seed, 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray, seed treatment ZnSO4 @ 3g kg-1 seed + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray, soil application ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 and soil application ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray. The chickpea was grown with standard package of practices. Result: The results revealed that a significant improvement in 100-seed weight, seed yield, stover yield and biological yield were observed with chickpea variety GJG 3 over GG 1. Significantly higher numbers of pods per plant (45.83) was recorded with variety GG 1. Significantly, chickpea variety GJG 3 was found superior in zinc content and uptake in seed and stover. Under agronomic strategy, zinc fortification through soil application ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at flowering and pod filling stages significantly improved yield attribute and yield viz., pods per plant (55.17), seed yield (2288 kg ha-1) and stover yield (3553 kg ha-1) and quality parameters viz., protein content in seed (22.89%) and protein yield (523 kg ha-1), zinc content and uptake in seed and stover (45.98 and 37.51 ppm and 104.87 and 133.35 g ha-1, respectively) over all other zinc biofortification treatments.

Enablers and Barriers of Zinc Fortification; Experience from 10 Low- and Middle-Income Countries with Mandatory Large-Scale Food Fortification

Adequate zinc nutrition is important for child growth, neurodevelopment, immune function, and normal pregnancy outcomes. Seventeen percent of the global population is estimated to be at risk for inadequate zinc intake. However, zinc is not included in the fortification standards of several low- and middle-income countries with mandatory fortification programs, despite data suggesting a zinc deficiency public health problem. To guide policy decisions, we investigated the factors enabling and impeding the inclusion of zinc as a fortificant by conducting in-depth interviews with 17 key informants from 10 countries. Findings revealed the decision to include zinc was influenced by guidance from international development partners and enabled by the assessment of zinc deficiency, mandatory regional food fortification standards which included zinc, the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for zinc fortification, and the low cost of zinc compound commonly used. Barriers included the absence of zinc from regional fortification standards, limited available data on the efficacy and effectiveness of zinc fortification, and the absence of national objectives related to the prevention of zinc deficiency. To promote zinc fortification there is a need to put the prevention of zinc deficiency higher on the international nutrition agenda and to promote large-scale food fortification as a key deficiency mitigation strategy.

Influence of Zinc Fortification on Yields and Quality of Fodder Maize

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of fortification of fodder maize var. African Tall with micronutrient zinc through ZnSO4 fertilizer application. The study involved fortification at different doses through soil application and foliar sprays at different stages of crop. Green fodder yields were highest at 50 kg ZnSO4 ha-1. Zinc content increased with increasing crop growth from knee high (18.9 mg kg-1) to fodder harvest (37.9 mg kg-1) with highest concentration at soil application of 50 ZnSO4 ha-1. Zinc fortification of 23% was observed when 50 kg of ZnSO4 was added through soil application while soil application of 25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 along with two foliar sprays at knee high and tasseling showed on par yields. Foliar sprays complemented soil application but foliar application alone excluding soil application failed to show impact on yields. No significant effect of zinc was observed on quality parameters viz., crude protein, acid detergent fiber or neutral detergent fiber. The crude protein content though did not vary significantly, highest was observed when 50 kg ZnSO4 was applied as soil application. Zinc application significantly influenced Neutral detergent fiber at fodder harvest, on the contrary, acid detergent fiber was not effected at any stage of crop.