Meeting the complexity of plant nutrient metabolism with multi-omics approaches

Abstract

Understanding nutrient metabolism in plants is a key challenge for understanding processes of primary and secondary metabolism and is indispensable for plant improvement in terms of yield and quality. Nutrient imbalances will lead to growth impairments and yield depressions. Plants have developed strategies to cope with such conditions within certain margins. Modern agriculture is based on supplementing soils to provide an optimal nutrient portfolio in combination with elite cultivars of crops adapted to these conditions (Whitcomb et al., 2014). A more sustainable agriculture strives at reducing inputs. This necessitates the development of novel cultivars to fit balanced but reduced nutrient inputs.