Biofortification of Oryza sativa L. with agri-food waste to improve the dietary value of crops

Due to the low dietary value of crops, Zn-deficient soils and insufficient intake of other minerals, soil fortification is often necessary. Fortification is defined as the addition of one or more crucial nutrients to a food to reduce poverty in a population or specific population groups. Currently available technologies for rice fortification with vitamins and minerals are high-energy and time-consuming methods. Therefore, mineral enrichment of crops has received much attention from scientists. The originality of the current study consists in determining the optimal use of hard hazelnut shells, orange peel and rice husks for enrichment of paddy soil and simultaneous immobilization of heavy metals. The combination of the identified wastes, namely hazelnut shells, orange peel and rice husks, showed good potential for immobilization/elimination or reduction of heavy metals to less than permissible limits. Therefore, the use of this combination could be an effective strategy to both introduce new micronutrients into rice grain and remove heavy metals

Geochemical assessment of metal transfer from rock and soil to water in serpentine areas of Sabah (Malaysia)

The mobility of metals in ultramafic rock–soil systems and metal contamination in serpentine soils were investigated from the Ranau area in Sabah, East Malaysia. Metal concentrations were analysed after division into seven operationally defined fractions by selective sequential extraction (SSE). Geochemical studies showed that the soils are exceptionally high in Cr (95%) residing in refractory residual fractions. Metal speciation studies will shed further light on toxicities in the Malaysian ultramafic tropical environment, reconciled against elemental metal tenure, adopted by common standards