Maize significance in Indian food situation to mitigate malnutrition

Abstract

Background and objectives India the second most populous country across the world provides shelter to 270 million hungry people and 24% malnourished children below 5 years of age. So, India needs to grow enough staple food to alleviate malnutrition and hunger. At times, staple foods are not sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of the vulnerable group. So, dietary modification and cultivation of more nutritious food crops in sufficient amount are the only option in some nutritional deficiencies. Findings Maize being the fastest growing cash crop is the widely cultivated coarse cereal across the world and also contains the highest genetic potential among all food grains. The biofortified maize widely known as quality protein maize (QPM) has now become the miracle crop for developing countries as it has better nutritional quality. QPM offers a higher biological value (80%) which makes it equivalent to 90% of the milk protein. Conclusions QPM may provide a suitable remedy to curb protein‐energy malnutrition among children. Significance and novelty This paper has been attempted to summarize maize potential in terms of its production, biofortification, nutritional properties, and value‐added product development with respect to Indian food situation.

Advances on the application of non-coding RNA in crop improvement

“…Some examples of nutrition adding plants through RNAi are high lysine maize for the expression of zein proteins (Li and Song, 2020;Choudhary et al, 2021), and silencing of carotenoid β-hydroxylases which increases the β-carotene content of maize (Berman et al, 2017).…”

Influence of Seed Cake as Organic Fertilizer on Growth, Dry Matter Production and Root Development of Two Cultivars of C4 Plant, Maize (Zea mays) under Lab Conditions

“…Globally, maize is among the three leading staple food grains. [1,2] and contains the highest genetic potential among all other grains [3]. As the leading producer, the United States, contributes to over 40% of the world's maize production [4].…”

Quality protein maize: nutritional and bioactive composition, technological attributes and potential food applications

“…In common maize, prolamine (zein) accounts for 60%, followed by albumin and globulin (3% each) of total proteins in endosperm (Choudhary et al ., 2021) Zein protein, the major protein in normal maize, has been reported to contain low lysine, which is only about 0.1/100 g (Prasanna et al ., 2001). Protein digestibility and overall protein quality were found superior for QPM.…”

“…Protein digestibility and overall protein quality were found superior for QPM. Also, it was reported to have better biological value (80%), which is almost twice of common maize (45%), and its overall protein availability is comparable to casein protein in the milk (Choudhary et al ., 2021).…”