Project Number: 1907-42520-003-01
Project Type: Specific C/A

Start Date: May 15, 2001
End Date: May 14, 2006

Objective:
To improve the nutritional value of staple food crops (wheat, rice, maize, beans, cassava) by increasing the content & bioavailability of iron, zinc, selenium, & vitamin A through sustainable changes to crops, crop production & food processing systems. To reduce the concentrations of cadmium in durum wheat & other crops by understanding & mapping the distribution of cadmium in wheat-growing soils, by developing agronomic methods to reduce cadmium uptake, & by understanding & controlling the mechanisms of cadmium uptake.

Approach:
Rice, wheat, maize, beans & cassava (IRRI, CIAT and CIMMYT) with elevated concentrations of micronutrients will be screened for bioavailable iron, zinc, selenium and provitamin A carotenoids using a rat model, human Caco-2 cell model & human feeding trials in cooperation with human nutritionists. Inhibitors or promoters of bioavailability will be measured. Effects of soil and production practices on micronutrients in plant foods will be studied. The spatial distribution of cadmium and other trace elements in soils of the durum wheat-growing region of the USA will be mapped using geostatistical methods & geographic information systems. Chemical reactions controlling the solubility of cadmium and other trace elements in North Dakota soils will be studied including the role of chloride. Physiological studies of uptake of zinc and cadmium will be conducted in the laboratory and under controlled cultural conditions. Radioactive tracers will quantify accumulation amd translocation of metals in edible plant parts. The role of phytochelatins and phytometallophores in metal uptake will be studied.

Project Team

Norvell, Wendell Welch, Ross Stephen Degloria - Professor, Department Of Crop And Soil Sciences 607-255-8808

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003   FY 2002   FY 2001

Related National Programs

Human Nutrition (107)   Food Safety, (animal and plant products) (108)