Seeds with multiple tolerance will be a game-changer: Borlaug award winner Swati Nayak

Seeds with multiple tolerance will be a game-changer: Borlaug award winner Swati Nayak

Subject: Geography

Section: Physical Geography

Source: TH

Context:

• Dr. Swati Nayak, a scientist from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) and known for research works in climate-resilient and nutritious rice varieties, recently won Borlaug Field Award by the World Food Prize.

Details:

• Dr. Nayak had organized more than 10,000 on-farm and comparative testing for more than 500 climate resilient, high-yielding, bio-fortified and healthier seed varieties.
• Dr. Nayak said developing high yielding inbreeds (non hybrids) from our old seed varieties and focussing on climate resilient and climate responsive varieties rich in micronutrients have been the innovations of this decade.
• Next decade of research and innovations should focus on low glycemic index varieties of rice which are with micro nutrients.
  • Glycemic index (GI) is a measure of (on a scale of 0 to 100) how quickly a food can make your blood sugar (glucose) rise. Only foods that contain carbohydrates have a GI. Foods such as oils, fats, and meats do not have a GI, though in people with diabetes, they can affect the blood sugar.
  • In general, low GI foods increase glucose slowly in your body. Foods with a high GI increase blood glucose quickly.
• The efforts are also to develop seeds with multiple tolerance– floods, droughts and pests.
• Kala Namak seed variety of paddy found in eastern India.
  • Kalanamak is a scented rice of Nepal and India.
  • This variety has been in cultivation since the original Buddhist period (600 BC). It is popular in Himalayan Tarai of Nepal i.e., Kapilvastu, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, where it is known as the scented black pearl.
  • It was featured in the book Speciality rices of the world by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Bio fortified foodgrains:

• Biofortification is the idea of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding, or through genetic engineering.
• Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification because it focuses on making plant foods more nutritious as the plants are growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed.
• Biofortification is seen as an upcoming strategy for dealing with deficiencies of micronutrients in low and middle-income countries.
• In the case of iron, the WHO estimated that biofortification could help curing the 2 billion people suffering from iron deficiency-induced anemia.
  • Bio fortified rice is the most low cost, intensive and affordable way to address the nutrition challenge. Bio fortified rice can be produced in bulk and it is not cost intensive.