A strategy for breeding staple-food crops with high micronutrient density
Material type:
ArticlePublication details: 1997Subject(s):
In:
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition v. 43, no. special issue, p. 1153-1157Summary: Food-based approaches to addressing micronutrient malnutrition in much of the human population have hitherto been based mainly on balancing cereal-based diets with vegetables, and to a lesser extent, animal products Although high in micronutrients, these commodities are more expensive foods than staples, and also more seasonal, subject to spoilage, and difficult to store and transport. Moreover, their availability in some countries is only 10-15% of what is required to meet the needs of the people (Ali et al., 1994). Because of the wide availability of staples, their high proportion in the diet of the most malnourished, because field fortification has several advantages over fortification during processing, and because staples are known for their low content of these essentials, we have studied the possibility of breeding to improve plant staples as sources of micronutrients for humans. This is in response to the WHO/FAO call for a food-based solution to micronutrient malnutrition which is considered now to affect more than 2 billion people world-wide (WHO, 1992)
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
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| Article | CIMMYT Knowledge Center: John Woolston Library | Look under journal title (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available |
Peer-review: Yes - Open Access: Yes|http://science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jlresults.cgi?PC=MASTER&ISSN=0038-0768
Food-based approaches to addressing micronutrient malnutrition in much of the human population have hitherto been based mainly on balancing cereal-based diets with vegetables, and to a lesser extent, animal products Although high in micronutrients, these commodities are more expensive foods than staples, and also more seasonal, subject to spoilage, and difficult to store and transport. Moreover, their availability in some countries is only 10-15% of what is required to meet the needs of the people (Ali et al., 1994). Because of the wide availability of staples, their high proportion in the diet of the most malnourished, because field fortification has several advantages over fortification during processing, and because staples are known for their low content of these essentials, we have studied the possibility of breeding to improve plant staples as sources of micronutrients for humans. This is in response to the WHO/FAO call for a food-based solution to micronutrient malnutrition which is considered now to affect more than 2 billion people world-wide (WHO, 1992)
Conservation Agriculture Program
English
9810|John Wiley|EE|R98-99ANALY|1
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