Potential Contributions of Biotechnology Rice that is high in vitamin A and iron content can contribute to solve the above-mentioned deficiency problems in populations that use rice as a staple food. Breeding for more nutritious foods can be accomplished using conventional breeding or biotechnology techniques. Breeding for improved nutritional quality is a relatively new, but under-appreciated activity with great potential. Biotechnology has introduced possibilities that are not feasible using conventional breeding techniques. The Swiss research team has been concentrating on use of transgenic techniques to add vitamin A to rice grains.
Key issues surrounding breeding for iron and vitamin A are quite different.
Breeding for Iron-Dense Rice For iron, conventional breeding is possible for two reasons. First, iron occurs naturally in rice grains. Second, high variability in the grain iron content allows selection of high-iron parents for crossbreeding. This aromatic variety provides nearly double the amount of iron as typical modern varieties. At the same time, this variety is high yielding and disease resistant so that profitability to farmers is preserved.