Combating micronutrient malnutrition: Identification of commercial sorghum cultivars with high grain iron and zinc

Abstract

The biofortification program complements the on-going efforts in combating the micronutrient malnutrition. In the present study, the grain Fe and Zn contents in commercially grown sorghum cultivars in India were used to identify suitable cultivars for large-scale promotion, and for developing the breeding strategies for further improvement. These results suggest that there is considerable variability for grain Fe and Zn contents in the elite commercial sorghum cultivars grown in India for food purposes and the four hybrids NSH 703, GK 4035, Mahabeej 703 and NSH 702 identified in the study can form part of the on-going efforts for combating micronutrient malnutrition through their large-scale promotion