Ortiz Rios, Rodomiro Octavio
- Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Malnutrition in any form results in enormous socioeconomic costs to the individual, their community, and the nation’s economy. The declining agricultural productivity and nutritional quality of staple food crops, due to climate change, necessitated the need to make a dynamic shift in our approach to improve productivity and nutritional quality of food crops. Use of genetics either through crossbreeding or genetic engineering is a sustainable strategy to arrest declining agricultural production or to address malnutrition and improve public health. Essential minerals, flavonoids, fragrance, and provitamin A precursor (β-carotene) are the target nutrients for genetic improvement, while concurrently minimizing seed phytate content. The seed phytate content limits the bioavailability and absorption of nutrients. Substantial progress has been achieved toward developing biofortified crops. The examples include fragrant rice (basmati and jasmine rice); flavonoid-rich grains (barley, rice, sorghum, and wheat); Fe- and Zn-enriched beans, rice, and wheat; low-seed-phytate soybeans; flavonoid-rich potatoes; β-carotene-rich cassava, rice, and sweet potato; and flavonoid-rich tomatoes. Significant milestones have been realized in agricultural biofortification efforts. Biofortified crops have reached millions of households across countries in the Global South. Combining fragrance, flavonoids, micronutrients, and carotenoids (β-carotene) with plant-based seed proteins will offer nutritionally balanced diets and sensory pleasure to meals. Public acceptance, regulatory frameworks, government policy support, and ethical concerns surrounding GMOs and/or gene-edited crops are major challenges to the popularization of biofortified crops. Robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning and harmonizing indicators, metrics, methods, and tools are highly recommended to ensure consistency and comparability across different biofortification initiatives.
Published in
Title: Next Generation Food Crops for Human Health
Publisher: CRC Press
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Horticulture
Food Science
Agricultural Science
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003467335-9
- ISBN: 978-1-032-73908-3
- eISBN: 978-1-003-46733-5
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/143590