Agronomic Biofortification of Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] Grain with Zinc to Combat Zinc Malnutrition

Zinc (Zn) malnutrition is a serious public health issue across the world and is mostly caused by inadequate dietary intake of micronutrients-particularly Zn. Its deficiency in humans might be resolved by improving their bioavailability in food items consumed at large for instance cereals, pulses etc. Mungbean, being an utmost important pulse crop grown worldwide, would play a significant role to ameliorate Zn deficiency amongst vegetarian population of the world. Besides this, Zn application also helps to enhance mungbean productivity and livelihood of farmers. Keeping this in view, the current study was conducted during 2021 and 2022 in randomised complete block design (RCBD) with four replications and the effect of soil and/or foliar application of Zn at flower initiation and/or pod formation on grain yield and Zn accumulation in mungbean grains were assessed. On the basis of 2-year pooled mean data, soil application of ZnSO4 at 20 kg ha(-1) + its foliar spray (0.5%) at flower initiation and pod formation resulted in significantly higher grain yield (1043 kg ha(-1)), grain Zn concentration (44.3 mg zinc kg(-1)), grain protein content (26.5%) and net returns (646.9 US $ ha(-1)) followed by soil application of ZnSO4 (20 kg ha(-1)) + foliar application (0.5%) at flower initiation alone. Therefore, it can be concluded that soil application of ZnSO4 (20 kg ha(-1)) + its foliar spray (0.5%) at flower initiation and pod formation has ample scope in improving productivity and profitability of mungbean along with improved grain Zn concentration for ameliorating Zn malnutrition in the form of hidden hunger in the burgeoning population.

Automated summary

Zinc malnutrition is a global public health issue, and improving the bioavailability of zinc in food, as well as the productivity and profitability of mungbean, can help address this problem.