
This chapter encompasses a number of major and trace elements, which are impor-
tant for plant nutrition, and provides information about their roles and deficiency
symptoms. Third chapter reviews the problem of toxic metal accumulation in plants
including cereals, vegetables, mushrooms, etc. The fourth chapter encompasses
human health issues emanating from deficiency of essential while excess of toxic
elements. The first four chapters therefore set an excellent beginning of the book.
In the second section, Chaps. 5–10 are dedicated to issues of essential element
nutrition of crop plants. Chapter 5 presents in-depth discussion about nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potassium in crop plants and provides details of their sources,
requirement for agricultural crops, and their deficiency symptoms in crops.
Chapter 6 reviews mechanisms of trace metal uptake and transport in crop plants
up to the grains. Chapters 7 and 8 shed light on the aspects of biofortification and
demonstrate why biofortification is a sustainable and feasible approach to deal with
the problem of elemental deficiencies stressing on agronomic solutions. Chapter 9
discusses biological ways through which elemental nutrition of crop plants can be
improved, while Chap. 10 focuses on biotechnological approaches pertinent for the
improvement of essential elements in crop plants. Therefore, Chaps. 5–10 present
not only the problem but also the prospective solutions for the problem of elemental
nutrition.
In the third section, Chaps. 11–18 deal with various aspects of toxic metals in
crop plants. Chapter 11 discusses the problem of toxic metals in crops in detail
spanning its various aspects including ecological risks and human health hazards.
Chapter 12 provides holistic information about physiological, biochemical to molec-
ular responses of plants to toxic metals. Chapter 13 gives details about mechanisms
of toxic metal uptake and transport in plants, in particular, focusing on the role of
transporters. Cha pters 14 and 15 deal with cadmium in particular presenting its wide-
ranging aspects from soil contamination, phytot oxicity, to plant responses to deal
with cadmium toxicity including the roles played by phytohormones. Chapter 16
discusses agronomic management practices that can be utilized to tackle the toxic
metal accumulation in crop plants in a sustainable, feasible, and low-cost manner.
Chapters 17 and 18 stress on biological (microbial) and genetic engineering
approaches, respectively, that can be applied to reduce toxic metals in crop plants
and safeguard plants against metal toxicity.
The book therefore comprises a unique combination of chapters on various
aspects and will give the reader a comprehensive knowledge of sustainable solutions
for managing elemental deficiency and excess in crop plants. This book would act as
a guiding textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students and as a means to
understand the latest research trends for doctoral students as well as for academicians
and researchers.
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Kumkum Mishra
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Pramod Kumar Tandon
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India Sudhakar Srivastava
viii Preface