Mining maize diversity and improving its nutritional aspects within agro‐food systems

Abstract

Agro‐food systems are undergoing rapid innovation in the world and the system's continuum is promoted at different scales with one of the main outcomes to improve nutrition of consumers. Consumer knowledge through educational outreach is important to food and nutrition security and consumer demands guide breeding efforts. Maize is an important part of food systems. It is a staple food and together with rice and wheat, they provide 60% of the world's caloric intake. In addition to being a major contributor to global food and nutrition security, maize forms an important part of the culinary culture in many areas of Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Maize genetics are being exploited to improve human nutrition with the ultimate outcome of improving overall health. By impacting the health of maize consumers, market opportunities will be opened for maize producers with unique genotypes. Although maize is a great source of macronutrients, it is also a source of many micronutrients and phytochemicals purported to confer health benefits. The process of biofortification through traditional plant breeding has increased the protein, provitamin A carotenoid, and zinc contents of maize. The objective of this paper is to review the innovations developed and promoted to improve the nutritional profiles of maize and outcomes of the maize agro‐food system.

Viewpoint: Agri-nutrition research: Revisiting the contribution of maize and wheat to human nutrition and health

“…Whole maize grain is rich in anthocyanins with many nutritive properties which can be enhanced by the traditional process of ‘nixtamalization’ ( Rosales et al, 2016 , Bañuelos-Pineda et al, 2018 ). Nutritional qualities of cereals are amenable to improvement through traditional plant breeding, genomic selection, bio- and industrial fortification ( Mattei et al, 2015 , Palacios-Rojas et al, 2020 , Shewry and Hey, 2015b , Velu et al, 2016 , Yu and Tian, 2018 , Zhao et al, 2020 ). However, the micronutrient content of cereals-based foods is also often reduced through processing methods ( Suri and Tanumihardjo 2016 ).…”

Conservation and Use of Latin American Maize Diversity: Pillar of Nutrition Security and Cultural Heritage of Humanity

“…Processing methods also contribute to the diversity of maize food products consumed in Mexico, Central, and South America. The main example of this is nixtamalization, a process originally developed in Mesoamerica and spread across all the Americas [17]. It is estimated that more than 300 food products in Mexico and Mesoamerica are derived from nixtamalization [55].…”

“…Nixtamalization consists of soaking and cooking grains in an alkaline solution, usually calcium hydroxide, and de-hulling the grains prior to a wet milling process. Nixtamalization increases the nutritional value of the grain (especially increasing the availability of vitamins and minerals, ensuring high calcium intake, and reducing antinutrients like phytate), facilitates grinding of the grain, and reduces mycotoxin levels [17,52].…”

“…Maize landraces are often grown in traditional cropping systems, for example, maize landraces in Mesoamerica are closely associated with milpa, a poly-cropping system with maize, beans, and squashes [17,91]. Similarly, in parts of South America, such as the highlands of Ecuador, maize landraces are often cultivated in poly-cropping systems associated with common bean, fava bean, green pea, and fig-leaf gourd.…”

“…Maize landraces are of great heritage value in Latin America, where they are linked to local and traditional products, and are important for food sovereignty and cultural identities [14][15][16][17]. Because of their fundamental importance for food security, plant breeding, and cultural identity, strategies are needed to support their sustainable and profitable on-farm cultivation and conservation.…”