Ismail Cakmak has long visited Argentina to provide more than interesting talks about crop nutrition. It is a world reference scientist, specialized in zinc and other nutrients.
Cakmak returned to the country recently invited by the Faculty of Agronomy of the UBA and fertilize Civil Association, an entity whose purpose is to disseminate knowledge about nutrition and land care to promote sustainable agricultural production, and spoke about the productive possibilities of the region.
Specifically, Cakmak said: “Argentina could be a first example in the world to produce biofortified grains, with more zinc and other micronutrients, to export to regions with deficiencies and, at the same time, generate a differential value in the market.”
Within the framework of the Seminar “Latest advances in the nutrition of crops for food production, this scientist recalled that biofortification is a strategy that, through the use of specific mineral fertilizers, raises the content of essential nutrients in the grains while the plant is growing in the field.
Cakmak, a pioneer in demonstrating the impact of zinc on crops such as wheat and corn in Türkiye, explained that the goal is to combat the global problem known as “hide hunger.” The lack of minerals such as zinc, selenium, iodine or iron that silently affects the health of 3.2 billion people in the world.
“You can eat well, feel satisfied, but inside you are poor nutrients. That is not seen with the naked eye, that’s why it’s called hidden hunger,” said Sabanci University specialist, Istanbul.
He also stressed that the biofortification strategy can position Argentina as a grain and food supplier “with added value”, and this could result in new and better markets for marketing.
During his exhibition, Cakmak warned that in the Pampas region phosphorus (P), sulfur (s) and zinc (zn) are low due to deficit replacement balances, and that the most recent soil maps show incipient boron deficiencies. “Every year more nutrients are extracted from those that are replenished; that impoverishes the soils and, consequently, crops and food.”
The specialist also warned that the problem is more relevant in soybean cultivation, due to its greater gap between the removal of nutrients from the harvest and the low replacement during their production.
In addition, he pointed out that “good mineral nutrition helps mitigate the impact of stress factors such as droughts, high temperatures or diseases.” And he emphasized that “if the soils are poor in minerals, crops demonstrate less ability to tolerate stress, whether biotic caused by diseases and pests, or abiotics, such as droughts or high temperatures.”
Meanwhile, to diagnose in time, he recommended combining soil analysis with plant tissue analysis: “The head of everything is the plant; you have to ask how it is, and that is done with a fabric analysis, not just soil.”
As for the role of biological products, he warned that “they cannot definitely replace mineral fertilization.” Of course, they can complement it, improve the availability and mobility of nutrients in the soil. But plants need amounts that “are only achieved with applied minerals.” During his presentation he showed concrete examples of how the action of bio -stimulants is synergized with an adequate provision of basic nutrients such as sulfur or potassium.
In this order, Cakmak exemplified that “a sheet that weighs 100 grams needs 3 grams of potassium and 5 grams of sulfur. How can those grams be put with a biological product? The biological product can help mobilize or solubilize nutrients, but not to contribute the amount that the plant requires,” he concluded.