Main researcher Antonio Sánchez with professors Vidal Barrón and María del Carmen del Campillo A team from the Department of Agronomy at the University of Córdoba (UCO) in Spain has demonstrated, through field tests carried out during eight agricultural seasons, that foliar application with fertiliser increases the concentration of zinc in wheat, more than if it is applied to the soil. Micronutrient deficiencies pose health problems for a third of the world’s population. Worldwide, zinc deficits are more problematic in rural areas of developing countries, where diets are largely limited to vegetable products grown in soils suffering from low nutrient availability.