17 New Biofortified Varieties Of 8 Crops To Fight Malnutrition – Free PDF Download

What is fortification?

• Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrient in a food,
• So as to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.

What is biofortification?

• Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, plant breeding, or modern biotechnology.
• Biofortification differs from conventional fortification in that biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during processing of the crops.
• Examples of biofortification projects include:-

1. Iron-biofortification of rice, beans, sweet potato, cassava and legumes;
2. Zinc-biofortification of wheat, rice, beans, sweet potato and maize;
3. Provitamin A carotenoid-biofortification of sweet potato, maize and cassava.

Biofortified crops in India

• There was only one biofortified variety developed prior to 2014,
• But 53 such varieties were developed during the last five years
• By the National Agricultural Research System under the leadership of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Q) Which among the followings are Micronutrients?

1.  Carbohydrates
2.  Fats
3.  Antioxidants
4.  Vitamins
5.  Proteins

1. 1, 2 & 3 only
2. 3 & 4 only
3. 1 & 5 only
4. 2, 3, 4, & 5 only

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