Bio-Fortified Wheat and Soybean Varieties : A Sustainable Approach of Food and Nutritional Security at District Dewas in Madhya Pradesh
Authors: - Savita Kumari , - Ashok Kumar Dixit , - S.R.K.Singh 
Published: November 2023

Food security of the country has been ensured due to green revolution through adopting of high yielding varieties and newly introduced agricultural technologies at ground realities, hence achieved the rational production (305.44 million tones) of cereal crops during 2020-21 (Ministry of Agriculture and farmers welfare third advance estimates). Now days country is facing with great problems of malnutrition (38.4%) of women, adolescent girls & children resulted high rate of anemia (58.6%), underweight (35.7%) & mortality (41%), whilein Madhya Pradesh malnutrition (42%), Anemia (68.9%), underweight (42.8%), mortality of children (51%) were higher comparatively to the country, may be due to imbalance, inappropriate nutrition, health & hygiene, poor awareness of livelihood peoples etc.(National Family Health Survey 2015-16). A stealthier form of deficiency is known as hidden hunger which is caused due to the intake of inadequate nutritious cheap food and thosehaving the characteristic of fulfillness the stomach but actually lacked in essential vitamins and minerals nutrition ingredients. Keeping in mind to cope up the malnutrition problems the Indian council of Agriculture research has taken lead for the biofortification of cereal crops based on earlier national breeding research efforts including biotechnology transgenic techniques and agronomic practices promotion of encourage the utilization of micronutrient fertilizers, targeting the enhancement of nutrients like zinc, iron, protein, folic acid, riboflavin, KTI free, Lipoxygenase-2 etc. in staple major & minor food and oilseed crops. The current study has planned to review the role and importance of bio-fortified cereal crops like wheat and oilseed associated with high rich protein i.e.soybean incorporated for balance and appropriate nutrition to overcome and reducing the risk of malnutrition i.e. anemia, underweight as well as to ensure the nutritional security on respondence of children less than 5 years. To achieve the goal the experiment has designed by incorporating the Porridge of biofortified durum wheat variety HI-8777 containing protein ˃14%, iron 48.7 ppm, zinc 43.6 ppm and soybean variety NRC-127 KTI free simultaneously on ten children at village Agera district Dewas (M.P.). The study comprises three treatments i.e.T1-Panjeeri, T2-HI-8777, T3-HI-8777 + NRC-127 (09:01) provided each treatment for 2 months respectively and total upto 6 months. The observations were recorded on various parameters like haemoglobin, total protein, iron, zinc, height and weight after two months intervals completing the each treatment. The base line data was recorded by adopting the standard analytical procedure for collecting the blood samples of respondents and their testing. The result data reveals that all studied parameters were found in increasing trend on treatment no.03 as compare to control. The maximum hemoglobin (13), total protein (7.9), iron (69), zinc (735) were recorded in treatment No. 03 in against of baseline data i.e. 09, 6.4, 13, 20 respectively after 6 months. Height and weightparameters were also higher in treatment no.03 as compare to treatment no.01. On the basis of data it concluded that recent bio-fortified wheat and soybean varieties were played vital role in contributing to the food and nutritional livelihood securities specially for the poor population of the rural areas in village Agera Distt Dewas to cope up the malnutrition problems in the state as well as the country.The result also confirmed by PriyaSingla and Kiran Grover during 2001