Overcoming Heavy Metals Up to 12 percent of soils under cultivation around the world contain metals that stunt plant growth and development and result in poor harvests. Other specially selected and engineered plants will perform an environmental cleaning-function by removing heavy metal contaminants from the soil and water a process called phytoremediation. There are also some beneficial metals such as Iron that are found in the soil. One-third of the world s soils are iron deficient. Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional problem in the world today, affecting an estimated 2.7 billion people, which is nearly half of all the people on earth.
Plants are a major source of iron for most of the world s people.
Understanding how to modify plants that take up higher amounts of iron would help in solving the widespread human nutritional problem of anemia. Almost one-third of the irrigated land on earth is not suitable for growing crops because it is contaminated with high levels of salt. More farmable land is lost annually through high salt levels in soil than is gained through the clearing of forest resources. Most plants are highly sensitive to salty conditions that cause stress and significant biochemical changes due to absorption and influx of sodium from the salty soil. NSF-funded scientists are studying approaches that will lead to plants which can tolerate salty growing conditions.