It is internationally accepted that malnutrition and chronic diseases in developing countries are key limitations to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In many developing countries, rice is the primary source of nutrition. In those countries, the major forms of malnutrition are Fe-induced anaemia, Zn deficiency and Vitamin A deficiency, whereas the major chronic disease challenges are Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. There is a growing corpus of evidence regarding both limitations and opportunities as to how rice could be an effective vehicle by which to tackle key nutrition and health related problems in countries with limited resources. Rice breeding programs are able to focus on developing new varieties carrying enhanced amounts of either Fe, Zn or beta-carotene because of large public investment, and the intuitive link between providing a mineral/vitamin to cure a deficiency in that mineral/vitamin. By contrast, there has been little investment in progressing the development of particular varieties for potential impact on chronic diseases. In this review article we focus on the broad battery of evidence linking rice-related nutritional limitations to their impact on a variety of human health issues. We discuss how rice might offer sometimes even simple solutions to rectifying key problems through targeted biofortification strategies and finally, we draw attention to how recent technological (−omics) developments may facilitate untold new opportunities for more rapidly generating improved rice varieties specifically designed to meet the current and future nutritional needs of a rapidly expanding global population.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1939-8433-5-16) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Grain legumes are widely used as high-protein contained crops that play a secondary role to cereal or root crops. In Sri Lanka various legume species are cultivated and often utilised in the whole grain boiled form. The objective of present study was to analyse and compare locally grown legumes varieties; Mung bean (MI 5, MI 6), Cowpea (Bombay, Waruni, Dhawal, MICP1, ANKCP1) and soybean (pb1, MISB1) for their morphological characteristics, proximate and mineral composition (Fe, Ca, Zn, K, P). Seed shape, seed coat texture and colour, seed size and 100 seed weight (g) were observed morphological characteristics in present study. Most of the characteristics of mung bean and soybean were similar within their species whereas characteristics of cowpea varieties largely differed. Values of 100 seed weight among the varieties of mung bean, soybean and cowpea were ranged from 5.8 - 6.5 g, 13.5 - 14.1 g and 13.4 - 17.2 g, respectively. The moisture content of all legume seeds ranged from 6.81% to 11.99%. Results were shown that the protein content significantly higher in soybean (36.56 - 39.70%) followed by mung bean (26.56 - 25.99%) and cowpea (25.22 - 22.84%) respectively. Range of total carbohydrate, crude fat, crude fibre and total ash contents of nine legume varieties varied from 15.29 - 62.97%, 1.25 - 22.02%, 3.04 - 7.93% and 3.43 - 6.35 respectively. potassium (K), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) ranged from 1000 - 1900, 360 - 669, 15.0 - 192.3, 2.26 - 11.6 and 1.67 - 4.26 mg.100g-1 respectively in all the species of studied legume varieties. The wide variation in the chemical and physical properties of observed nine legume varieties, suggesting possible applications for various end-use products.

Phytate a major anti nutritional factors in legumes and it accounts for larger portion of the total phosphorus, while limiting the bioavailablity of certain divalent cations to the human body. Legumes of eleven varieties cultivated in Sri Lanka, Mung bean (MI5, MI6), Cowpea (Waruni, MICP1, Bombay, Dhawala, ANKCP1), Soybean (MISB1, Pb1) and Horse gram (ANKBlack, ANKBrown) were analyzed for phosphorus content and phytate content. Total phosphorus content was quantified by dry ashing followed by spectrophotometrical measurement of the blue colour intensity of acid soluble phosphate with sodium molybdate in the presence of ascorbic acid while phytate phosphorus using anion exchange chromatographic technique followed by spectrometrical measurement of the digested organic phosphorus and amylose content by Simple Iodine-Colourimetric method. Where the least value for phosphorus was observed 275.04 ±1.44 mg.100g -1 in ANKBlack (Horse gram) and the highest in MISB1 (Soyabean) with 654.94 ±0.05 mg.100g -1 . The phytate phosphorus content (which is a ratio of phyate to total phosphorus) was highest in Dhawala (Cowpea). The phytate phosphorus (which is a ratio of phyate to total phosphorus) was highest in Dhawala with 67.42% and least in Bombay (Cowpea) with 24.87%. The amylose content of the legumes was least in Pb1 with 8.71 ±0.13 mg.100mg -1 and the highest in MI6 22.58 ±0.71 mg.100mg -1 . The correlation between phyate and total phosphorus was significant (p <0.05) and positive (r = 0.62). Similarly the correlation coefficient for phytate phosphorus and total phosphorus was significant (p <0.05) and positive (r = 0.63). Amylose content of legumes was significantly correlated negatively (p <0.05) with the total phytates content (r = -0.82).