Research Landscape of Biofortified Microgreens: A Bibliometric Study Toward Sustainable Nutrition
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66132/ngas020302Keywords:
Bibliometric Analysis, Biofortification, Food Security, Microgreens, Micronutrient DeficiencyAbstract
The global population is projected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, the demand for sustainable food systems has become increasingly urgent. However, climate change, declining soil fertility, and urban encroachment have led to lower-quality, nutrient-deficient crops. Biofortification has emerged as a sustainable solution to enhance the nutritional quality of plants, addressing micronutrient deficiencies and improving dietary quality. Microgreens, known for their rapid growth, nutrient density, and adaptability to controlled environments, offer immense potential within agroecological systems. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of research on biofortified microgreens, assessing trends in publication output, key contributors, and research collaborations. Using Scopus data and R studio as well as VOS Viewer software, we analyze intellectual and collaborative networks to provide insights into the subject's growth and development. The analysis identifies key contributors, research trends, and collaborative networks while situating biofortified microgreens within the broader context of agroecological resilience, food sovereignty, and sustainable diets. Findings indicate an increase in global research interest, led by Italy, China, and India, with strong intercontinental collaboration. The integration of biofortification with precision agriculture and breeding innovations holds promise for equitable access to nutrient-rich crops within ecologically sustainable systems.
References
Bamji, M. S., P. V. V. S. Murty, and P. D. Sudhir. 2021. Nutritionally sensitive agriculture—an approach to reducing hidden hunger. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 75 (7): 1001–1009. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-00760-x
de Sousa, F. D. B. 2021. Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis. Waste Management & Research 39 (5): 664–678. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X21992422
Di Gioia, F., S. A. Petropoulos, I. C. F. R. Ferreira, and E. N. Rosskopf. 2021. Microgreens: from trendy vegetables to functional food and potential nutrition security resource. Acta Horticulturae 1321: 235–242. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2021.1321.31
Garg, M., A. Sharma, S. Vats, V. Tiwari, A. Kumari, V. Mishra, and M. Krishania. 2021. Vitamins in cereals: a critical review of content, health effects, processing losses, bioaccessibility, fortification, and biofortification strategies for their improvement. Frontiers in Nutrition 8: 586815. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.586815
Garg, M., N. Sharma, S. Sharma, P. Kapoor, A. Kumar, V. Chunduri, and P. Arora. 2018. Biofortified crops generated by breeding, agronomy, and transgenic approaches are improving lives of millions of people around the world. Frontiers in Nutrition 5: 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2018.00012
Glänzel, W., and A. Schubert. 2004. Analysing scientific networks through co-authorship. In: Moed, H.F., Glänzel, W., Schmoch, U. (eds) Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Research. Springer, Dordrecht. Pages 257–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2755-9_12
Kathi, S., H. Laza, S. Singh, L. Thompson, W. Li, and C. Simpson. 2022. Increasing vitamin C through agronomic biofortification of arugula microgreens. Scientific Reports 12 (1): 13093. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17030-4
Marques, E., H. M. Darby, and J. Kraft. 2021. Benefits and limitations of non-transgenic micronutrient biofortification approaches. Agronomy 11 (3): 464. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11030464
Martín-Martín, A., E. Orduna-Malea, and E. Delgado López-Cózar. 2018. Coverage of highly-cited documents in Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus: a multidisciplinary comparison. Scientometrics 116 (3): 2175–2188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2820-9
Murgia, I., L. De Gara, and M. A. Grusak. 2013. Biofortification: how can we exploit plant science and biotechnology to reduce micronutrient deficiencies? Frontiers in Plant Science 4: 429. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00429
Prasad, R., and Y. S. Shivay. 2020. Agronomic biofortification of plant foods with minerals, vitamins, and metabolites with chemical fertilizers and liming. Journal of Plant Nutrition 43 (1): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2019.1659334
Puente, L., C. Char, D. Patel, M. S. Thilakarathna, and M. S. Roopesh. 2024. Research trends and development patterns in microgreens publications: a bibliometric study from 2004 to 2023. Sustainability 16 (15): 6645. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156645
Roosendaal, H. E. 1995. Roles of bibliometrics in scientific communication. Research Evaluation 5 (3): 237–241. https://doi.org/10.1093/rev/5.3.237
Sheoran, S., S. Kumar, V. Ramtekey, P. Kar, R. S. Meena, and C. K. Jangir. 2022. Current status and potential of biofortification to enhance crop nutritional quality: an overview. Sustainability 14 (6): 3301. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063301
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2019. Population facts. How certain are the United Nations global population projections? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 6.
Van Eck, N., and L. Waltman. 2010. Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics 84 (2): 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
Van Eck, N. J., and L. Waltman. 2011. Text mining and visualization using VOSviewer. arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.2058. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1109.2058
Vance, C. P. 2001. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation and phosphorus acquisition. Plant nutrition in a world of declining renewable resources. Plant Physiology 127 (2): 390–397. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.010331
Zhu, S., I. Takigawa, J. Zeng, and H. Mamitsuka. 2009. Field independent probabilistic model for clustering multi-field documents. Information Processing & Management 45 (5): 555–570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2009.05.003
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Hemlata Singh, Jyostnarani Pradhan, Guptnath Trivedi, Yash Bhardwaj, Manoj Punasiya, Roshni Agnihotri, Amaresh Chandra

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.