Genetic Analysis of Zinc, Iron and Provitamin A Content in Tropical Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

Breeding maize with high contents of zinc, iron and provitamin A (PVA) could be effective in mitigating micronutrient deficiency in developing countries with a high reliance on maize-based diets. Information on the mode of inheritance of zinc, iron, PVA and grain yield (GY) would facilitate the development of varieties with enhanced contents of these nutrients. Twenty-four yellow to orange maize inbred lines and their 96 F1 hybrids generated using North Carolina Design II, were evaluated alongside four checks for two years at two locations in Nigeria. The effects of environment, hybrid and inbred line were significant for GY and contents of zinc, iron and PVA. The GY, and contents of zinc, iron and PVA of the hybrids ranged from 1.49 to 6.05 t ha−1, 22.51 to 33.33 mg kg−1, 20.04 to 29.65 mg kg−1 and 3.55 to 15.28 µg g−1, respectively. Additive gene effects controlled the accumulation of PVA and Fe, whereas both additive and non-additive gene effects controlled the inheritance of Zn and GY. Inbred lines with high general combining ability for GY and single or multiple micronutrients were identified, and could be used to develop hybrids and synthetics that combine high GY with high micronutrient content. Six hybrids combined high GY with high contents of all three micronutrients, and are recommended for further evaluation and possible release. Our study revealed the feasibility of enriching maize with multiple micronutrients without compromising grain yield.

Evaluation of Temperate Maize Inbred Lines for Iron (Fe) Concentration using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry

“…, a genotype HP2 (Harvest Plus) showed 42.21 µg/g. Similar results were also stated byChakraborti et al (2011),Phuke et al (2017),Sharma et al (2021),Qureshi et al (2021),Saletnik et al (2022) andUdo et al (2023). Principle Component Analysis: PC 1: PCA 1 accounts for a significant part of variability among inbred lines and traits which 31.3%.…”

Advances in Genetic Enhancement of Nutritional Quality of Tropical Maize in West and Central Africa

“…To assess the existence of sufficient genetic variation in Fe and Zn concentration in tropical maize inbred lines adapted to the lowlands and mid-altitudes, several trials involving different sets of tropical maize inbred lines revealed the presence of significant variation in concentrations of grain minerals among inbred lines in each trial [25]. More recently, multi-environment evaluation of PVA-enriched inbred lines and their hybrids for multiple micronutrients (PVA, Fe, and Zn) identified superior inbred lines and hybrids combining high grain yield with high concentrations of the three micronutrients, demonstrating the possibility of creating nutrient dense maize without affecting grain yield [28].…”

Plant Iron Research in African Countries: Current “Hot Spots”, Approaches, and Potentialities

“…Efforts for multiple enrichments of maize with Fe, Zn, and also provitamin A have been conducted in Nigeria, with the identification of sets of hybrids which combined high Fe and Zn content (24.45 mg kg −1 and 29.24 mg kg −1 ) and average provitamin A content (7.48 mg kg −1 ); however, there was a weak but significant negative correlation between Zn and provitamin A, so the hybrids with the highest provitamin A content were also lowest in Zn content [ 34 ].…”

“…Publications Publications with African Prominent Authorship rice (various Oryza species) [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] [ 17,18,[21][22][23][24][25][26] maize (Zea mays) [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] [ [29][30][31][32][33][34] common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) [35][36][37][38][39][40] [ [37][38][39][40] soybean (Glycine max) [27,41-44] [44] pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) [45][46][47][48] [ [45][46][47]…”