Analytical Assessment of Maize Kernels for Fe, Zn, and β-Carotene Dense Cultivars with Low Phytate Contents

Sharma, A. and Prasad, S. and Arun Kumar, R. and Jaiswal, S. and Agrawal, P. K. and Kant, L. and Bhatt, J. C. (2020) Analytical Assessment of Maize Kernels for Fe, Zn, and β-Carotene Dense Cultivars with Low Phytate Contents. Acta Alimentaria, 49 (1). pp. 40-48. ISSN 0139-3006 (print); 1588-2535 (online)

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Abstract

The present paper reports that significant genetic variability was evident in Fe, Zn, β-carotene, and phytic acid (phytate, PA) contents in a set of 39 diverse maize genotypes collected from maize breeding programme of hill agriculture, India. The Fe, Zn, β-carotene, and PA concentrations were found to be in the range 19.31–50.64 mg kg−1, 12.60–37.18 mg kg−1, 0.17–8.27 µg g−1, and 6.59–7.13 g kg−1, respectively. The genotypes V335, V420, V393, V416, V414, V372, and V351 were identified to have higher concentration of β-carotene, Fe, and Zn but lower amount of PA. Possible availability of the minerals Fe and Zn was determined using molar ratio between PA as inhibitor and β-carotene as promoter for their absorption. The micronutrient molar ratio showed that Fe and Zn traits could be dependent of each other. Low R2 value revealed relation between β-carotene and kernel colour. The selected genotypes could be considered as potential sources of favourable genes for further breeding programs to develop micronutrient enriched maize cultivars.

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