Odisha Samachar Odisha Breaking News , Odisha Current News , Odisha News
Related Articles
Bhubaneswar, 7/12/2022 ( Odisha Samachar )- Rice is the staple food for more than 70% population of India. During the process of milling and polishing majority of the essential micronutrients viz. iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) and important vitamins of rice grain are lost. Rice is also relatively low in protein content (7-8%) as compared to other cereals such as wheat, barley and other millets. Protein-energy malnutrition is prevalent among children depend on rice. Biofortification in rice could be a game changer for those people who have very limited choices of dietary resources and can also address the malnutrition issue.
The ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack released (a) CR Dhan 310 as the first high protein (10.3%) rice variety of India. Similarly, (b) CR Dhan 315 was released with high zinc content (25 ppm) for Gujarat and Maharastra; (c) CR Dhan 311 (Mukul) released as nutrient-rich variety with high grain protein (10.1%) and Zn (20 ppm) content and (d) CR Dhan 411 (Swarnanjali) wasreleased in Odisha as ‘high protein Swarna’ with 10% protein content. ICAR-NRRI signed nine MoUs with private companies and Farmers’ producer companies (FPCs) for large scale seed production and marketing of these biofortified rice varieties.
High protein rice in mid-day meal programme can give health benefits to under privileged school-going children in villages of rural India. Such rice varieties can significantly contribute to Rice based food products industry. They have enormous potential to increase productivity, profitability and sustainability of rice.
