Nutritional security through crop biofortification in India: Status & future prospects

Abstract

Malnutrition has emerged as one of the most serious health issues worldwide. The consumption of unbalanced diet poor in nutritional quality causes malnutrition which is more prevalent in the underdeveloped and developing countries. Deficiency of proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals leads to poor health and increased susceptibility to various diseases, which in turn lead to significant loss in Gross Domestic Product and affect the socio-economic structure of the country. Although various avenues such as dietary-diversification, food-fortification and medical-supplementation are available, biofortification of crop varieties is considered as the most sustainable and cost-effective approach where the nutrients reach the target people in natural form. Here, we have discussed the present status on the development of biofortified crop varieties for various nutritional and antinutritional factors. Ongoing programmes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research on the improvement of nutritional traits in different crops have been presented. Challenges and future prospects of crop biofortification in India have also been discussed. The newly developed biofortified crop varieties besides serving as an important source for livelihood to poor people assume great significance in nutritional security.

Growth and Antioxidant Responses in Iron-Biofortified Lentil under Cadmium Stress

“…The experimental material comprised two lentil varieties, L4717 and JL3, released for Central India. L4717, also known as Pusa Ageti Masoor (Fe concentration 65 ppm), is a medium-sized seed, biofortified lentil variety developed at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India [ 17 ] and JL3 (Fe concentration 45 ppm) was developed at Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. The study was undertaken in controlled growth conditions in a polycarbonate house (28–23 °C day/night temperatures and 75% relative humidity) at the Phenotyping facility, National Institute of Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi.…”

Molecular Breeding for Nutritionally Enriched Maize: Status and Prospects

“…These hybrids viz., 'Pusa HM-4 Improved', 'Pusa HM-8 Improved', and 'Pusa HM-9 Improved' have been released in 2017 for commercial cultivation in India , possessing nearly double the concentrations of lysine and tryptophan as compared to normal maize. These four hybrids are in the flint background, and did not show any yield penalty over the original hybrids (Yadava et al, 2018). At CIMMYT several inbreds were converted to QPM versions (e.g., CML244Q, CMl246Q, CML349Q, and CML354Q) using MABB; the grain yield performance of these QPM versions were at par with the original versions.…”

Biofortification of Cereals and Pulses Using New Breeding Techniques: Current and Future Perspectives

“…For example, milled grain of most cereals is consumed around the globe. Although most of the essential elements, i.e., Se and S, are higher in germ but other essential elements, i.e., copper, zinc, and iron, are found in ample quantity in bran which is removed during the milling process and is not accessible to humans (164). Most micronutrients are found in the aleurone layers of the cereals which are removed during the milling process alongside bran.…”