Biofortification of vegetable crops for vitamins, mineral and other quality traits
Vandana Thakur, Akhilesh Sharma, Parveen Sharma, Prabhat Kumar, K Shilpa
Abstract
Micronutrient malnutrition is responsible for severe social and health concerns and therefore, intensifies acute anxiety throughout the world. Nutrition is the strategic element in several stratagems designed to ease the burden of diseases on a global level. The green revolution satisfied the necessity for greater yield but at the expense of quality. Today, poor people are primarily suffering from micronutrient malnutrition as they cannot afford dietary supplementation due to poverty. Henceforth, the production of biofortified food crops is necessary to resolve the problem of micronutrient deficiency on a sustainable basis. Biofortification of commonly consumed food crops offers the simplest solution to complex nutritional disorders. This review highlights different biofortification approaches that are engaged to offset numerous nutrient deficiencies along with new advancements to be undertaken. The impacts of various internal and external attributes have been discussed for SWOT analysis for scaling up the biofortification initiatives. Additional efforts to revise the prevailing genomes by employing molecular techniques can open new pathways in the research field of biofortification.