Maize significance in Indian food situation to mitigate malnutrition

Abstract

AbstractBackground and objectivesIndia the second most populous country across the world provides shelter to 270 million hungry people and 24% malnourished children below 5 years of age. So, India needs to grow enough staple food to alleviate malnutrition and hunger. At times, staple foods are not sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of the vulnerable group. So, dietary modification and cultivation of more nutritious food crops in sufficient amount are the only option in some nutritional deficiencies.FindingsMaize being the fastest growing cash crop is the widely cultivated coarse cereal across the world and also contains the highest genetic potential among all food grains. The biofortified maize widely known as quality protein maize (QPM) has now become the miracle crop for developing countries as it has better nutritional quality. QPM offers a higher biological value (80%) which makes it equivalent to 90% of the milk protein.ConclusionsQPM may provide a suitable remedy to curb protein‐energy malnutrition among children.Significance and noveltyThis paper has been attempted to summarize maize potential in terms of its production, biofortification, nutritional properties, and value‐added product development with respect to Indian food situation.