Scientists make unexpected discoveries that agriculture could change as we know it: “Really remarkable”

If most people think of zinc, imagine a vitamin supplement that contributes to combating colds. However, researchers in Europe have uncovered a surprising new role for this essential mineral – one that could change agriculture as we know it.

A team of scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark, the polytechnic university of Madrid and the European synchrotron radiation facility discovered that zinc is not only good for humans. It also helps to use legumes such as beans, peas and lentils, nitrogen better. These plants already have the natural ability to “repair” nitrogen from the air, but zinc increases this process and helps them to eat more efficiently.

Why is that important? Since nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients in agriculture – and is currently to a large extent dependent on chemical fertilizers to supply it.

Worldwide, farmers use over 100 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer every year and requires an enormous amount of energy. In addition, excess fertilizers often wash into rivers and oceans, which raises algae flowers, suffocating the fish and threatening the drinking water.

For decades, scientists have been looking for ways to make the plants less dependent on synthetic fertilizers. Due to their natural nitrogen fixing skills, legumes have always emerged as special, but so far the researchers have not fully understood how this process was regulated.

The breakthrough came when the team identified a regulatory protein called “Fixing under nitrate”. Together with zinc, this protein helps legumes to finely optimize your nitrogen use and to fed it essentially better.

“It is really remarkable to discover Zinc's role as a secondary signal in plants,” said Jieshun Lin, the first author of the study.

This discovery could have wavy effects in the entire global food system. Legumes are a cornerstone of diets worldwide, and they can mean more natural floors, lower agricultural costs and cleaner waterways.

For everyday consumers, this leads to food with fewer chemicals – a victory for human health and the environment.

While it can take a few years for this research to reach agricultural fields, the potential is clear. A simple mineral that we can already rely on for health could soon help harvesting, sober pollution at the source and supports a more environmentally friendly future for agriculture.

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