News Excerpt: 

According to a recent report, the rice and wheat consumed by Indians today may be of low nutritional value.

Key findings of the study:

• The ICAR-led study has examined the food value of rice and wheat and reported that breeding programmes focused on developing high-yielding varieties have altered the nutrient profiles of rice and wheat, to the extent that their dietary and nutritional value has gone down.
• In the past 50 years, the concentration of essential nutrients like zinc and iron has decreased by 33 percent and 27 percent in rice, and by 30 percent and 19 percent in wheat, respectively.
• The study looked into the causes of zinc and iron deficiency in cereal-dependent populations. When high-yielding rice and wheat cultivars were tested, grain density of zinc and iron decreased.
• Experiments showed that modern-bred cultivars of rice and wheat are less efficient in sequestering nutrients like zinc and iron, despite their availability in soil.
• Evaluation of the nutrient profiles of the harvested grains showed that rice and wheat, which meet over 50 percent of the daily energy requirements of people in India, have lost up to 45 percent of their food value in the past 50 years. 
• At this rate, the grains will become impoverished for human consumption by 2040.
• The depleted concentration of essential nutrients in staple grains could result in a higher prevalence of diseases related to neurological, reproductive and musculoskeletal systems. 
• The study also discovered that the amount of arsenic, a toxic element, in rice, has increased by 1,493 percent.

Major reasons behind decreasing nutrient value:

• The goal of the Green Revolution in India was to feed the country’s rapidly growing population and become self-sufficient in terms of food production. 
• Hence, the main motive of agricultural scientists was to improve yield. 
• After the 1980s, breeders shifted their focus to developing varieties that were resistant to pests and diseases and tolerant of stresses such as salinity, moisture and drought.
• Breeders were not thinking whether the plants were taking in nutrients from the soil or not. Hence, over a period of time, plants have lost their capacity to take up nutrients from the soil.

Steps taken to improve the nutritional profile of foodgrains:

• Agricultural scientists have started using landraces and wild species of cultivated varieties. 

• Under a special project on bio-fortification, launched by the Union government, scientists at ICAR and other agriculture universities have undertaken germplasm exploration to find donor varieties that are high in nutritional content. 
• So far, institutes under ICAR have developed 142 bio-fortified varieties, but these varieties haven't been adopted by farmers on a large scale yet.