Breeding for Biofortification Traits in Rice: Means to Eradicate Hidden Hunger

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) supplies nourishment to about half of the population of the world's inhabitants. Of them, more than 2 billion people suffer from 'hidden hunger' in which they are unable to meet the recommended nutrients or micronutrients from their daily dietary intake. Biofortification refers to developing micronutrient-rich diet foods using traditional breeding methods and modern biotechnology, a promising approach to nutrition enrichment as part of an integrated strategy for food systems. To improve the profile of rice grain for the biofortification-related traits, understanding the genetics of important biofortification traits is required. Moreover, these attributes are quantitative in nature and are influenced by several genes and environmental variables. In the course of past decades, several endeavours such as finding the important quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for improving the nutrient profile of rice seeds were successfully undertaken. In this review, we have presented the information regarding the QTLs identified for the biofortification traits in the rice.