Availability, production, and consumption of crops biofortified by plant breeding: current evidence and future potential

Saltzman, Amy; Birol, Ekin; Oparinde, Adewale; Andersson, Meike S.; Asare-Marfo, Dorene; Diressie, Michael T.; González, Carolina; Lividini, Keith; Moursi, Mourad; Zeller, Manfred

doi:10.1111/nyas.13314

Cited by 112 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Micronutrient malnutrition, primarily the result of poor quality of diets or poor intake of vitamins and minerals, affects more than 2 billion peoples in developing countries, especially women and preschool children [2,3]. The costs of these micronutrient deficiencies in terms of lives lost, adverse effect on economic growth and poor quality of life are very huge and more staggering in developing countries, including India.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding Biofortified Pearl Millet Varieties and Hybrids to Enhance Millet Markets for Human Nutrition

Govindaraj¹,

Rai²,

Cherian³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Pearl millet is an important food crop in the arid and semi-arid tropical regions of Africa and Asia. These regions are home to millions of poor smallholder's households living in harsh agroecology and reported higher prevalence of malnutrition. . Indeed, pearl millet is one of the food crops they continue to grow for their food and nutritional security. Considering inherent high nutritional values and climate resilient nature (drought and heat), demand for pearl millet as food, beside valued for its Stover as a source of livestock fodder, is projected to grow strongly in Asia (India) and Africa (West and Central Africa). Iron (cause anemia) and zinc (cause stunting) deficiencies are widespread and serious public health problems worldwide, including India and Africa. Biofortification is a cost-effective and sustainable agricultural strategy to address this problem. Aim of this review is to provide current status and future directions of pearl millet biofortification for growing nutrition markets. Research on pearl millet has shown that large genetic variability (30-140 mg kg −1 Fe and 20-90 mg kg −1 Zn) available in this crop can be effectively utilized to develop high-yielding cultivars with high iron and zinc densities. Both Open -pollinated varieties (Dhanshakti and Chakti) and hybrids (ICMH 1202, ICMH 1203 and ICMH 1301) of pearl millet with high grain yield (>3.5 tons/ha in hybrids) and high levels of iron (70-75 mg kg −1 ) and zinc (35-40 mg kg −1 ) densities have been developed and released in India. Currently, India growing >70,000 ha of biofortified pearl millet, besides more pipeline hybrids and varieties are under various stage of testing at the national (India) and international (west Africa) trials for possible release. Biofortification program utilized the existing high-Fe lines identified from the mainstream program to serve the immediate objective of developing high-yielding and high-Fe hybrids. Genomic tools will be an integral part of biofortification breeding program particularly to use diagnostic markers and genomic selection for micronutrients. Several biofortified varieties and hybrids released in pearl millet. Till today, no markets to promote biofortified varieties and hybrids as no incentive price and such products aims to address food and nutritional security challenges simultaneously. The demand is likely to increase only after investment in crop breeding and integration into modern public distribution system, nutritional intervention schemes, private seed and food companies with strong mainstreaming nutritional policies. In the non-traditional regions, this will contribute to livestock and poultry feed industry as spill-over benefits to improve nutrition. The following sections of this review describing various aspects of breeding for increased market opportunity of this crop towards addressing micronutrient malnutrition.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding Biofortified Pearl Millet Varieties and Hybrids to Enhance Millet Markets for Human Nutrition

Govindaraj¹,

Rai²,

Cherian³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Prerequisites to the effectiveness of biofortification in improving nutrition are that farmers are willing to grow biofortified crops and consumers to eat them; crop yield is not penalised; and the nutrients provided are bioavailable and can have a tangible impact on nutritional status (Saltzman et al . ). HarvestPlus has developed crops naturally enriched with provitamin A, iron and/or zinc.…”

Section: Setting the Scenementioning

confidence: 97%

Proceedings of the ‘Working together to consider the role of biofortification in the global food chain’ workshop

Lockyer

White

Walton³

et al. 2018

Nutrition Bulletin

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A workshop, jointly hosted by the British Nutrition Foundation, HarvestPlus and the UK government's Department for International Development, was held in May 2018 in London to discuss the potential of introducing biofortified foods into the UK market. Forty delegates from academia, the food industry and non-government organisations (NGOs) attended. The workshop included presentations outlining the findings of research into the efficacy of biofortified crops in developing countries, the current situation in the UK in terms of micronutrient intakes and status, regulatory issues and consumer acceptability insights. Group work focused on challenges and opportunities relating to introducing biofortified foods into developed markets, in particular aspects relating to consumers (e.g. awareness and understanding of micronutrients and intakes in the UK; potential demand and marketing strategies for biofortified foods); crop growers (e.g. would existing biofortified crops be suitable for the UK climate and who would absorb any additional related costs?); the relevance and acceptability of various biofortified foods in the UK (e.g. based on current dietary patterns and preferences); manufacturers and retailers (e.g. smallholders in the developing world could be linked to the UK food industry; nutrition claims could be utilised); public health (e.g. identification of priorities; potential beneficiaries and ways to target these); regulation (e.g. could a minimum crop micronutrient content be made mandatory?); and research (e.g. to further prove efficacy; consumer insights). Four themes emerged: crop research; consumer education and awareness; standards; and public health research. These were used to identify various challenges, opportunities, beneficiaries, stakeholders, necessary actions and immediate next steps that could form the basis of future work streams designed to explore bringing biofortified foods to the UK market.

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“…To develop Fe-and Zn-rich maize cultivars, the following guidelines should be adopted Bouis and Saltzman, 2017;Saltzman et al, 2017;Garg et al, 2018;Menkir et al, 2018): maize germplasm should be screened for Fe and Zn and the lines with high Fe and Zn should be selected, and these lines should be used as parents and crossed with commercial maize cultivars that have low Fe and Zn in grains to produce F 1 maize hybrids and Fe-and Zn-rich maize cultivars. Marker-assisted selection should also be used to identify QTLs or markers linked with Fe and Zn, as it will speed up the biofortification process.…”

Section: Breeding Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iron and Zinc in Maize in the Developing World: Deficiency, Availability, and Breeding

et al. 2018

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Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal in the world and the most important food security crop in sub‐Saharan Africa. Maize provides energy and micronutrients. Deficiencies of the essential micronutrients Zn and Fe are fifth and sixth ranked among the top 10 most important risk factors for conditions such as anemia, low cognitive functioning, and impaired immune system (Fe deficiency) and diarrhea, skin inflammation, and recurrent infections (Zn deficiency) in humans, affecting more than two billion people worldwide. Poverty, lack of access to balanced diets and awareness, and low phytoavailability and bioavailability of these nutrients are major reasons for deficiencies. Breeding for mineral‐rich maize is a sustainable and cost‐effective approach to reduce micronutrient deficiencies. Since 2004, there has been significant progress in improving maize for Zn content. The aim of this review was to capture recent developments, trends, and progress in maize Fe and Zn biofortification and to identify challenges and ways to overcome them. HarvestPlus has set target levels for Fe (60 μg g−1) and Zn (38 μg g−1) in maize. Zinc target levels have been reached, but conventional breeding alone cannot enhance Fe to the recommended levels. Techniques such as oligo‐directed mutagenesis, reverse breeding, RNA‐directed DNA methylation, and gene editing could be used in future to speed up maize Fe biofortification. Additional research is required on Fe and Zn bioavailability in maize products, and on interactions of Fe and Zn with Ca and phytate and their influence on absorption, to better understand the underlying mechanisms.

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Availability, production, and consumption of crops biofortified by plant breeding: current evidence and future potential

Cited by 112 publications

References 25 publications

Breeding Biofortified Pearl Millet Varieties and Hybrids to Enhance Millet Markets for Human Nutrition

Breeding Biofortified Pearl Millet Varieties and Hybrids to Enhance Millet Markets for Human Nutrition

Proceedings of the ‘Working together to consider the role of biofortification in the global food chain’ workshop

Iron and Zinc in Maize in the Developing World: Deficiency, Availability, and Breeding

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