“Zinc rich Wheat”“Beta-carotene rich Cassava ”“Vitamin A rich Golden Rice ”“Iron rich Beans”

“BIOFORTIFIED” CROPS FOR IMPROVED HUMAN NUTRITION

Objectives

At the end of this presentation e will be able to:

Identify that micronutrient

deficiencies invariably affect people.

Infer biofortification, an ideal

solution for micronutrient deficiency

Appreciate new biofortified of staple

food crops rich in micronutrients.

Providing adequate amount of

micronutrients (Fe, Zn..) to human

populations

Control of

Malaria

Control of

HIV/AIDS Trade Liberalization

Source: WHO(2010)

Malnutrition accounts of ≈ 30 million deaths per year (≈ 1 death per second) (WHO estimate)

Leading 10 Risk Factors in Developing CountriesLeading 10 Risk Factors in Developing Countries% Cause of Disease Burden% Cause of Disease Burden (WHO, 2002) (WHO, 2002)

WHO, 2002

Underweight 14.9%

Unsafe sex 10.2%

Unsafe water 5.5%

Indoor smoke 3.7%

Zinc Deficiency 3.2%

Iron deficiency 3.1%

Vitamin A deficiency

3.0%

Blood pressure 2.5%

Tobacco 2.0%

Cholesterol 1.9%

Nearly the half of world population

affected from micronutrient deficiencies

Welch and Graham, 2010; Field Crops Res

Mineral Deficiencies affect a range of functions:

• Immunity

• Growth

• Lower work productivity

• Higher morbidity/mortality

• Lower cognitive ability

• Brain development

• Reproduction

People who intake insufficient amounts of iron, zinc, and vitamin A can suffer from a “hidden hunger,” often with serious consequences.

Without zinc, an eight-year-old girl may have the stature of a five-year-old.

Case study: Acute

malnutrition ... Ujala is four

months old but weighs only 1.5

kilograms.

Photo: Brendan Esposito

A young boy who doesn't receive enough vitamin A, an amount easily provided daily by a small orange sweet potato-could face permanent blindness..

The ideal solution - a more diverse diet - is beyond the reach of millions of poor people living in often-remote rural areas. This is where more nutritious staple foods can help.

Through a process called “Biofortification”, scientists are breeding new varieties of staple food crops that are richer in micronutrients.

Staple food crops

What is biofortification?

Biofortification is a method of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value.

Biofortification

Genetic engineering Conventional selective breeding

How it differs from fortification? Biofortification differs

from ordinary fortification because it focuses on making plant foods more nutritious as the plants are growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed.

Bioforitifed beans rich in iron

Iodine fortified Salt

Biofortified RiceHuman beings generally consume rice in its milled form. Milling usually removes outer layers, especially aleuron layer, which turn rancid on storage. The remaining edible part (endosperm) is field with starch granules and protein bodies. Therefore it lacks several essential nutrients such as carotenoids exhibiting provitamin A activity. Thus, reliance on rice as a primary food staple contributes to vitamin A deficiency.

Rice genome has been altered with genes from other organisms to make its rich in vitamin A, thus enhancing the nutritional content of rice, which mainly contains starch. 4 foreign genes from daffodils and a bacterium, the team succeeded in engineering a biosynthetic pathway that enables the rice plant to produce beta-carotene in the grain.

Daffodils- 4 foreign gene

Bacterium – biosynthetic pathway- beta carotene

Golden rice

The presence of beta-carotene gives the rice a golden yellow hue and hence popularly referred as “Golden Rice". Golden Rice has the potential to form an important component of a wholesome package to combat malnutrition.

Golden rice – Beta carotene

1 gram of Golden Rice contains 1.6 microgram of

carotenoid

The production of semidwarf wheat through the introduction of the rht genes has resulted in a yield increases in both bread wheat and durum wheat. However, this is associated with a reduction in Fe and Zn concentration in grain of some bread wheat genotypes but not in durum wheat.

Biofortified Wheat

Zinc and Iron rich wheat could play crucial role in combating malnutrition given the fact that wheat is one of the most important food staples of the world.

Zinc and Iron rich wheat

More than 95% of the world’s sweet potato crop is grown in developing countries, where it is the fifth most important food crop. African farmers produce about 7 million tons of sweet potato annually, mostly for human consumption.

Biofortified Sweet potato production

Biofortified sweet potato is an extremely rich source of provitamin A that has been proven to improve the vitamin A status of children. . It has been demonstrated that orange sweet potato biofortified with provitamin A (hence the orange color) increases vitamin A intake and vitamin A status of deficient individuals, compared to traditional white varieties that are popular in Africa.

Biofortified Sweet potato

Biofortified (Lathyrus sativus) Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus)

is a popular food and feed crop in Asian and African countries such as Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Nepal and Pakistan because of its resistance to drought, flood and salinity and its suitability for low inputs farming conditions.

Micronutrient levels indifferent staple crops

Comparison of existing practices with Transgenic approaches

Consortium for Biofortified crops A consortium of institutes has

been formed to develop and deploy bio-fortified crop varieties and demonstrate their impact in human diets. CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture Research) and IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) and CGIAR(Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research) –sponsored centers.

CIAT IFPRI

CGIAR

Superior agronomic traits The staple crops are already

widely produced and consumed by poor households in the developing world but farmers need to be convinced to grow biofortified varieties and consumers must be persuaded to add them to their diets. The need for maintaining superior agronomic traits is paramount with biofortified varieties.

Similar biofortification research Harvest plus programme

High-Zinc Rice (Bangladesh, India)

High-Zinc Wheat (India, Pakistan)

High-Provitamin A Cassava (DR Congo, Nigeria)

High-Provitamin A Corn (Zambia)

High-Zinc Corn (Ghana)

High-Iron Bean (Rwanda, DR Congo)

High-Iron & -Zinc Pearl Millet (India)

Biofortification Makes Sense

The ultimate solution to eradicating undernutrition among the poor in developing countries is to diversify diets and substantially increase the consumption of nutrient-dense food such as meat, poultry, fish, fruits, legumes, and vegetables but it may take many decades for diversified diets to be affordable for the poor.

Meanwhile, biofortification makes sense as part of an integrated food-systems approach to reducing undernutrition.

Biofortification Makes Sense It addresses the root causes

of micronutrient malnutrition, targets the poorest people, uses built-in delivery mechanisms, is scientifically feasible and cost-effective, and complements other ongoing interventions to control micronutrient deficiencies. It is an essential first step in enabling rural households to improve family nutrition and health in a sustainable way.

Thank you