Prof. Dr. Ismail Cakmak, a research partner of K+S KALI GmbH received the Georg Forster Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, valued at €60,000 (US$81,200) on June 4, 2014.
Prof. Cakmak, who teaches and researches at Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey, conducts research as a visiting scientist this year at the Institute of Applied Plant Nutrition (IAPN), a co-operation of K+S KALI GmbH and the University of Göttingen.
Malnutrition is a global challenge
“Leading economists agree that worldwide malnutrition is one of the greatest challenges humanity is presently facing, even more pressing than climate change,” says Prof. Cakmak.
“Approximately two billion people are currently suffering from acute nutrient deficiencies, primarily women and children.”
“With our work, we can contribute to increasing grain zinc density by using targeted fertilization, which will in turn improve the zinc supply to people living in developing countries, where cereals are still the most important staple foods.”
Zinc as an essential element
In Turkey, the discovery of grain zinc deficiency inhibits plant growth and diminishes yield quality was initially considered as coincidental.
“During the 1990s, we conducted fertilization trials in the Turkish region of Anatolia, as the cereals grown in that area exhibited very distinctive deficiency symptoms,” says Prof. Cakmak.
“This is where we discovered the importance of the nutrient zinc, and we decided to conduct more targeted research on this issue.”
As a result of this research, Turkish farmers now apply 500,000 tons of zinc-containing NPK-fertilisers per year, significantly improving Turkish wheat’s nutritive quality and yields.
Within the scope of the international HarvestPlusProgram, Prof. Cakmak has since 2008 been coordinating a global research project, in 12 countries.
This project is aimed at promoting international research on grain zinc density and gaining insight into the effects of targeted fertilization on the nutrient supply to plants – and therefore also to humans.
In addition to his work on alleviating zinc deficiency, Prof. Cakmak conducts research on the relevance of proper plant nutrition for plant growth under adverse, stress-inducing conditions such as aridity, heat and increased solar radiation.
Attention is given to the nutrients magnesium and potassium.
The corresponding research projects are conducted by Prof. Cakmak, in collaboration with scientists from the Institute of Applied Plant Nutrition (IAPN) and from the Department Crop Sciences at Göttingen University.
