Maize is an important food and feed crop worldwide. Phytic acid (PA), in maize kernel, is an antinutritional factor. PA chelates mineral cations and causes mineral deficiency in humans and phosphorous deficiency in animals. The undigested PA excreted by monogastric animals causes phosphorous eutrophication. Therefore, development of low-phytate maize is indispensable. The low-phytate locus (lpa2 allele) has been transferred from low-phytate mutant line 'EC 659418' into an elite inbred UMI 395 through marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). The MABB involved three backcrosses followed by two selfing steps, including 'foreground selection', that is, selecting lines with lpa2 allele with the help of a codominant SSR marker 'umc2230' and 'background selection', that is, selecting plants having genetic background similar to that of the recurrent parent using 50 codominant SSR markers. Two low-phytate lpa2 lines with genome similar (>90% similarity) to that of recurrent parent have been identified. These lines can be used as parent in future hybridization programmes for obtaining low-phytate high-yielding maize hybrids.Key words: Marker-assisted selection -phytic acid -maize -lpa2Maize (Zea mays L.) has multiple facets of usage such as human consumption (12%), livestock feed (58%) and industrial purposes (30%). Maize is a staple food for 310 million people over 20 countries, contributing 20-30% of total calories in human diets. Phytic acid (PA) {myo-inositol-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-hexakisphosphate [InsP(6)]} is ubiquitous in eukaryotic cells and constitutes the major storage form of phosphate in plant seeds (from 60% to 80%) (Raboy 2007). During maturation, PA is accumulated in the protein storage vacuole in inclusions called globoids; the phosphate groups present in PA are able to form phytate salts binding important mineral cations such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. In mature maize kernels, 80% of PA is localized in the scutellum and the remaining 20% in the aleurone layer (O'Dell et al. 1972).Major concern in maize is its PA content, which may go up to 4 mg/g of seed. PA is an antinutritional factor, for it chelates mineral nutrients (calcium, manganese, iron, magnesium, zinc, etc.) and renders minerals in phytate non-bioavailable to humans and renders phosphorus in phytate non-bioavailable to monogastric animals such as swine, poultry and fish (Brinch-Pedersen et al. 2002). Moreover, PA is an environmental pollutant; the phosphorus released from undigested PA excreted by monogastric animals causes phosphorous pollution. Therefore, development of new maize cultivars with 'low-PA/ high available Phosphorus' characteristics could increase the bioavailability of minerals in humans and phosphorus in monogastric animals and reduce phosphorus pollution to environment and reduce amount of phosphorus supplementation required in animal feeds and hence the associated economic loss to feed industry (Ertl et al. 1998). Such grain would also offer more available Fe and Zn for human nutrition (Mendoza et a...