Biofortification of Iron, Zinc, and Selenium in Rice for Better Quality

Abstract

In the last two decades, people are suffering from malnutrition due to the deficiency of certain vitamins and micronutrients in the daily diet worldwide. Micronutrient malnutrition, known as hidden hunger, has been well recognized in the developing world which relayed on cereal-based staple food, particularly in Asian countries, where more than half of the world’s population used rice as a staple food. It is well-confirmed that around 60%, 30%, and 15% of the world population are assumed to be deficient in iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se). As a result, the importance of micronutrient nutrition has to increase at a great pace. In the chapter, we highlight the importance of biofortification in rice and also discuss the agronomic, traditional breeding, biotechnology, molecular, transgenics, and gene editing as potential approaches to combat widespread micronutrient deficiencies in humans.