BREEDING TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF MAJOR FOOD CROPS

Abstract:Cereals belonging to family Gramineae are edible grains and are dominant crops in world agriculture. They are the major source of energy, carbohydrate (nearly 75 per cent), starch (25-27 per cent), fibre (13 per cent), fat (2 per cent) and protein (6-15 per cent) for humans & livestock. Cereals are good source of micronutrients, vitamins such as vitamin A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B9, E & K, non-starch polysaccharides and bioactive substances which are required for proper functioning & essential metabolic activities in human beings and provide proper health benefits. WHO identifies deficient micronutrient uptake in over half of all people globally particularly in women & children. Out of 7 billion world population, micronutrient deficiency is reported in about 2.5 billion people. Major cereal crops viz. wheat, maize & rice are the staple food providing wholesome nutrition. However, these crops are associated with some deficiencies of the micronutrients & nutritional components like inadequate bioavailability of Fe & Zn in rice & wheat, vitamin A deficiency in rice endosperm, deficiency of essential amino acid like lysine & tryptophan in maize causes severe pellagra disease while gluten content in wheat causes severe allergic celiac disease. Availability of nutritious & biofortified food can overcome all these problems. Enhancing the bio availability of deficient nutrient content in these major cereal crops by biofortification is a feasible solution. Therefore, breeding techniques are efficient for enhancing nutrient content.