Abstract
Micronutrient malnutrition due to Fe and Zn, affects around two billion people globally particularly in the developing countries. More than 90% of the Asian population is dependent on rice-based diets, which is low in these micronutrients. In the present study, a set of 192 Indian rice germplasm accessions, grown at two locations, were evaluated for Fe and Zn in brown rice (BR) and milled rice (MR). A significant variation was observed in the rice germplasm for these micronutrients. The grain Fe concentration was in the range of 6.2–23.1 ppm in BR and 0.8–12.3 ppm in MR, while grain Zn concentration was found to be in the range of 11.0–47.0 ppm and 8.2–40.8 ppm in the BR and MR, respectively. Grain Fe exhibited maximum loss upon milling with a mean retention of 24.9% in MR, while Zn showed a greater mean retention of 74.2% in MR. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was carried out implementing the FarmCPU model to control the population structure and kinship, and resulted in the identification of 29 marker-trait associations (MTAs) with significant associations for traits viz. FeBR (6 MTAs), FeMR (7 MTAs), ZnBR (11 MTAs), and ZnMR (5 MTAs), which could explain the phenotypic variance from 2.1 to as high as 53.3%. The MTAs governing the correlated traits showed co-localization, signifying the possibility of their simultaneous improvement. The robust MTAs identified in the study could be valuable resource for enhancing Fe and Zn concentration in the rice grain and addressing the problem of Fe and Zn malnutrition among rice consumers.
Highlights
IntroductionAn average adult human with a body weight of 65 kg has about 3–4 g of Fe and 1.5–2.5 g of Zn (King et al, 2006; Wood et al, 2006)
In the human body, iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) are the two most abundant trace minerals
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) offers a dual advantage of analyzing the extensive trait variation among the germplasm lines and identifying several genomic regions affecting the trait
Summary
An average adult human with a body weight of 65 kg has about 3–4 g of Fe and 1.5–2.5 g of Zn (King et al, 2006; Wood et al, 2006). Zn is a prerequisite for biological functions like gene expression, cell division, cell development, reproduction, Rice MTAs for Grain Micro-Nutrients and immunity (Brown et al, 2001, 2004). Fe deficiency in humans is related to increased risk of maternal mortality, anemia, premature births, low birth weight, and impaired cognitive and motor development (Bouis, 2003). Severe or clinical Zn deficiency is a condition associated with short stature, immune system dysfunction, hypogonadism, skin disorders, anorexia, delayed wound healing, skeletal abnormalities, and cognitive dysfunction (Prasad, 1991; Salgueiro et al, 2000)
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