Providing the world’s population with sufficient and nutritious food through sustainable food systems is a major challenge of the twenty-first century. Fertilizer use is a major driver of crop yield, but a comprehensive synthesis of the effect of fertilizer on the nutritional quality of food crops is lacking. Here we performed a comprehensive global meta-analysis using 7859 data pairs from 551 field experiment-based articles published between 1972 and 2022, assessing the contribution of fertilization with a wide set of plant nutrients to the nutritional quality of food crops (i.e., fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses/oil crops, and sugar crops). On average, fertilizer application improved crop yield by 30.9% (CI: 28.2–33.7%) and nutritional quality (referring to all nutritionally relevant components assessed; carbohydrates, proteins, oil, vitamin C, representative mineral nutrients, and total soluble solids) by 11.9% (CI: 10.7–12.1%). The improvements were largely nutrient- and crop species dependent, with vegetables being the most responsive. Potassium, magnesium, and micronutrients played important roles in promoting crop nutritional quality, whereas the combined application of inorganic and organic source(s) had the greatest impact on quality. Desirable climatic conditions and soil properties (i.e., silt loam, soil organic matter 2.5–5.0%, and pH 4.5–8.5) supported further enhancements. Considering cross-continent responsiveness, the increase in the nutritional quality of food crops with fertilizer application was greatest in Africa. In a nutshell, our findings pave the way towards a quantitative understanding of nutrient management programs and responsible plant nutrition solutions that foster the sustainable production of nutritious and healthy food crops for human consumption.

Muhammad Ishfaq

Yongqi Wang

Jiuliang Xu

Mahmood Ul Hassan

Hao Yuan

Lianlian Liu

Boyi He

Irsa Ejaz

Philip J. White

Ismail Cakmak

Wei-Shan Chen

Jiechen Wu

Wopke van der Werf

Chunjian Li

Fusuo Zhang

Xuexian Li

Agronomy for Sustainable Development

可持续发展农学 (ASD) 是国家农业研究所 (INRA) 的期刊。它欢迎将农学、种植和耕作系统研究与生态、遗传、环境、经济和社会科学联系起来的多学科文章。鼓励在牲畜、田间、农场、景观、食品系统和全球范围内采用系统方法以及参与性研究。ASD 不发表：· 生态学、植物生理学、土壤和环境科学、遗传学、微生物学和昆虫学方面的单学科文章不明确考虑作物生产。· 经济学和社会科学的单学科文章。· 涉及主要在盆中进行或与生产条件脱节的实验的研究。ASD 发表原创文章、荟萃分析和评论文章。原创文章应展示出与当前知识相比明显的科学突破。投稿可能涉及方法论方法或解决期刊范围内主要问题的方法。评论文章报告了对新兴主题的批判性评估。

Agronomy for Sustainable Development is a journal published by the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) that focuses on sustainable agricultural development. The journal welcomes multidisciplinary articles that connect research in agronomy, cropping, and farming systems with ecology, genetics, environmental science, economics, and social sciences. We encourage the use of systems approaches and participatory research in livestock, field, farm, landscape, food systems, and on a global scale. The journal does not accept the following types of submissions: · Single-discipline articles in ecology, plant physiology, soil and environmental sciences, genetics, microbiology, and entomology that do not explicitly consider crop production; · Single-discipline articles in economics and social sciences; · Research primarily conducted in laboratory settings or disconnected from production conditions. We publish original research articles, meta-analyses, and review articles. Original articles should demonstrate significant scientific breakthroughs compared to existing knowledge, and submissions may involve methodological approaches or solutions to major issues within the journal's scope. Review articles provide critical assessments of emerging topics.

《Agronomy for Sustainable Development》是由国家农业研究所(INRA)出版的期刊，专注于可持续发展农学。期刊欢迎将农学、种植和耕作系统的研究与生态学、遗传学、环境科学、经济学和社会科学等领域相结合的多学科文章。我们鼓励在牲畜、田间、农场、景观、食品系统及全球范围内采用系统方法和参与性研究。期刊不接受以下类型的稿件：· 仅涉及生态学、植物生理学、土壤和环境科学、遗传学、微生物学和昆虫学等领域的单学科文章，且未明确考虑作物生产的；· 仅涉及经济学和社会科学的单学科文章；· 主要在实验室进行或与生产条件脱节的研究。我们发表原创研究文章、荟萃分析和评论文章。原创文章应展示出与现有知识相比显著的科学突破，投稿可涉及方法论或解决期刊范围内主要问题的方法。评论文章则对新兴主题进行批判性评估。

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

Improvement of nutritional quality of food crops with fertilizer: a global meta-analysis

通过施肥改善粮食作物营养质量：一项全球元分析

Category	Quartile
农林科学	1
农林科学, 农艺学	2
农林科学, 绿色可持续发展技术	3

Improvement of nutritional quality of food crops with fertilizer: a global meta-analysis

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY	2