Biofortification

Biofortification is the breeding of crops to carry higher levels of vitamins and minerals, or more and better-quality protein and healthier fats, and it is regarded as one of the most practical ways to improve public health through the food supply itself. Breeding for improved nutritional quality specifically targets protein content and quality, oil content and quality, vitamin content, and micronutrient and mineral content. In 2000, maize hybrids were developed carrying twice the amino-acid (lysine and tryptophan) content of existing hybrids; the wheat variety Atlas 66, valued for its high protein content, has been used as a donor to improve cultivated wheat; and an iron-fortified rice variety has been developed containing over five times as much iron as commonly consumed varieties. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, has released several biofortified vegetable crops, including vitamin-A-enriched carrot, spinach and pumpkin; vitamin-C-enriched bitter gourd, bathua, mustard and tomato; iron- and calcium-enriched spinach and bathua; and protein-enriched broad bean, lablab bean, French bean and garden pea. An earlier conventional example of combining desirable traits through hybridisation is sugarcane: Saccharum barberi, originally grown in North India, had poor sugar content and yield, while the tropical Saccharum officinarum grown in …