Biofortification of Rice to Augment Iron Availability for Better Health of Population

Aim: Rice is one of the largely consumed cereal and masses have been expressed anemia conditions. Iron augmentation of rice varieties had been carried out by agronomical biofortification as established an easy way to reach the poor rural masses for enhancing the concentration of particular minerals.

Methodology: Six rice varieties were evaluated during kharif in the net houses of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, CCS HAU augmented with 0 mM 0.1m 0.5 mM Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA-Fe(II)). Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) related metabolites along antioxidative metabolites were estimated in grains, upper shoots & lower shoots.

Results: Roots of HBC19 and Palman579 and lower and upper shoots of PUSA1121 contained higher iron. Highest iron in dehusked grains was recorded in Palman579 followed by HBC19, PUSA1121, HKR120, Super and Govind. Production of toxic super oxide radical (O2- ) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and lipid peroxidation (MDA), enhanced in all the varieties with increase in Fe concentration. Antioxidative metabolites’ contents (ascorbic acid and glutathione) and activities of antioxidative enzymes [super oxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR)] invariably increased with increasing iron treatment in both root and shoot.

Interpretation: Less accumulation of reactive oxygen species along with the gradual increase in antioxidative metabolites’ contents and enzymes’ activities at higher iron treatments suggest that a better ROS scavenging ability to restrict the damage to cellular membranes due to lipid peroxidation may be responsible for the adaptation of these varieties at high iron levels.