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.

通过可持续粮食系统为世界人口提供充足和有营养的食物是二十一世纪的一项重大挑战。肥料的使用是作物产量的主要驱动因素，但缺乏肥料对粮食作物营养品质影响的综合综合。在这里，我们使用 1972 年至 2022 年间发表的 551 篇基于田间实验的文章中的 7859 个数据对进行了全面的全球荟萃分析，评估了多种植物营养素施肥对粮食作物（即水果、蔬菜、谷物、豆类/油料作物和糖料作物）。平均而言，施肥使作物产量提高了 30.9%（CI：28.2–33.7%），营养质量（指评估的所有营养相关成分；碳水化合物、蛋白质、油、维生素 C、代表性矿质营养素和总可溶性固形物）提高了 30.9%（CI：28.2–33.7%） 11.9%（置信区间：10.7–12.1%）。这些改善很大程度上取决于营养物质和作物种类，其中蔬菜的反应最为灵敏。钾、镁和微量营养素在促进作物营养品质方面发挥着重要作用，而无机和有机源的联合施用对品质的影响最大。理想的气候条件和土壤特性（即淤泥质壤土、土壤有机质 2.5-5.0%、pH 4.5-8.5）支持进一步增强。考虑到跨大陆的响应能力，施肥后粮食作物营养质量的提高在非洲最大。简而言之，我们的研究结果为定量理解营养管理计划和负责任的植物营养解决方案铺平了道路，这些解决方案促进了供人类消费的营养和健康粮食作物的可持续生产。