MALNUTRITION: Legume crops consume phosphorus

Global food security could be seriously affected by diminishing levels of phosphorus in agricultural soils around the world, said scientists who have studied the flow of the mineral through soils and crops.Researchers analysed nine years of data on phosphorus flows in cereals and legumes worldwide. They found "significant imbalances" between the phosphorus going in and coming out of the soil — in many places, the amount of phosphorus available to plants is decreasing. Phosphorus is essential for plants to grow, but when crops are harvested it leaves the soil with them. The scientists found that agriculture in Asia, in particular, consumes much more mineral phosphorus fertiliser in proportion to crop production than any other region. Eventually this could cause environmental, economic and social problems, they said."This is a particularly relevant and important topic in the light of the increasing global population," said the scientists, led by John Lott, biologist from Canada-based McMaster University. "High quality phosphorus reserves are diminishing and the cost of fertilisers is escalating rapidly."
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