Advances in Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences · Vol. 1, No. 3 · 2015 · pp. 73–75 · e-ISSN 2377-8350

Reaching out to Farmers with High Zinc Wheat Varieties through Public-Private Partnerships – An Experience from Eastern-Gangetic Plains of India

Govindan Velu, Ravi Singh, Arun Balasubramaniam, Vinod Kumar Mishra, Ramesh Chand, Chhavi Tiwari, Arun Joshi, Parminder Virk, Binu Cherian, Wolfgang Pfeiffer

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17140/aftnsoj-1-112 · Published 2015-07-06 · Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 · © 2015 The Author(s)

Also available as PDF (figures and tables appear in the PDF).

Abstract

The main objective of the HarvestPlus led wheat biofortification breeding program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its national program partners in South Asia is to develop and disseminate competitive wheat varieties with high grain zinc (Zn) and other essential agronomic features. The emphasis of this program is to introduce novel sources of genetic diversity from wild species and landraces, into the adapted wheat background. This variation is being exploited through limited backcross approach with shuttle breeding at two contrasting locations in Mexico, which resulted in widely adapted, du-rable rust and foliar disease resistant, high Zn wheat varieties. The new wheat varieties devel-oped by CIMMYT in HarvestPlus project are 20-40% superior in grain Zn concentration and are agronomically at par or superior to the popular wheat cultivars of South Asia. The biofor-tification breeding program of CIMMYT utilizes new wheat varieties from the core-breeding program as background parents that are higher yielding, resistant to rusts, heat tolerant, water-use efficient and 5-10% higher yielding than main varieties grown at present. The biofortified high Zn wheat varieties with 20 to 40% (8-12 mg/kg) Zn superiority and grain yield potential at par or superior to the popular wheat varieties are being adopted by small-holder farmers in South Asia. Through Public-private partnerships (PPP) more than 50,000 farmers and 250,000 household members expected to benefit from the Zn-biofortified wheat varieties in South Asia by the 2015-2016 wheat seasons.

Keywords: Biofortification; High zinc wheat; Public-private partnership; Dissemination

Acknowledgements

The authors grateful to funding support from HarvestPlus Challenge program and active support and cooperation from progressive farmers in the region and public-private partners involved in seed dissemination system.

Conflicts Of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Consent

We have obtained written permission from the farmers in the image.

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