Biofortified Crops for Nutritional Security with Special Reference to the North-Eastern India

Abstract

Malnutrition resulting from the consumption of an unbalanced diet has emerged as one of the major health concerns worldwide. Due to its negative impact on growth and development in humans, it adversely affects the livelihood and prosperity of a society too. Among various alternatives, crop biofortification has emerged as the most sustainable and cost-effective approach to alleviate malnutrition. The high-yielding crop cultivars generally lack adequate levels of nutritional quality required for optimum metabolism in humans. Intensive research efforts by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) led National Agricultural Research Education and Extension System (NAREES) involving State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and Central Universities (CUs), have led to the development of >150 biofortified crop cultivars across cereals, pulses and oilseeds. While nutritional qualities viz., protein, iron, zinc, calcium, lysine, tryptophan, provitamin-A, oleic acid and linoleic acid have been enhanced, the concentration of several anti-nutritional factors viz., phytate, erucic acid, glucosinolates and trypsin inhibitor have also been significantly reduced through breeding approaches. North-Eastern Region (NER) harbors a rich reservoir of genes spread over various crops like cereals, pseudocereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, and medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). Here, we present a review of the work done by the NAREES on the biofortification of various crops and enlist the biofortified crops developed and released for commercialization by the National system of the country. The presence of a reservoir of genes in NER can help in further biofortifying the wide array of crops which can assist in improving the nutritional security of the people in India in general and the dwellers of the NER of India in particular. In addition, attempts made to popularize these crops by licensing their seed production through private seed companies and farmers’ groups like farmers’ producer organizations have also been dealt with.