Rising CO2 Increases Plant Growth at the Cost of Nutrient Density

Researchers at the University of Washington collaborated with scientists at USDA, as well as others in Japan, China and Australia, for more than two years to study how rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could affect rice — humanity’s most important crop. They found that it not only loses protein and minerals but is also likely to lose key vitamins as plants adapt to a changing environment.

Solutions to the changing nutrient status in plants that we and animals ultimately consume have significant implications for global health challenges.

The re-utilisation of nutrients previously lost to plants, and then recapturing, customising and converting them to suitable plant intake will be a core element of sustainability.

Elemental Digests Thallo® fertiliser is composed of animal-by products from the abattoir industry and useful industrial wastes, that would otherwise have resulted in additional carbon being released by incineration, or pollution via land storage.

Thallo complements chemical fertilisers, reducing their volumetric needs, but also adds considerable value to soils, via its soluble organic carbon compounds, as well as essential nutrients and a clean domestic source of phosphate and sulphur.

Reference.

Zhu C, Kobayashi K, Loladze I, Zhu J, Jiang Q, Xu X, Liu G, Seneweera S, Ebi KL, Drewnowski A, Fukagawa NK, Ziska LH. Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels this century will alter the protein, micronutrients, and vitamin content of rice grains with potential health consequences for the poorest rice-dependent countries. Sci Adv. 2018 May 23;4(5) View Full Paper