Biofortified Varieties in India by ICAR

Biofortified Varieties:  Sustainable Way to Alleviate Malnutrition 


                 Nutritious diet is vital for proper growth and development in humans. It helps preventing diseases, besides maintaining the body metabolism for physical- and mental- well being. Food provides energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins, antioxidants and minerals to meet our daily metabolic requirement. Most of them cannot be synthesized in human body, therefore are to be supplemented through diet. Further, anti-nutritional factors present in edible parts of the food exert adverse affects on human health Consumption of unbalanced foods affects billions of people worldwide, and leads to poor health and socio-economic conditions. So far, the focus has been on the development of high yielding varieties primarily to feed the ever increasing populations. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has improved the nutritional quality in high yielding varieties of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables and fruits. Till now more than 5600 varieties of different crops have been released of which no. of biofortified varieties is negligible. These biofortified varieties assume great significance to achieve nutritional security of the country.



1) Rice: CR Dhan 310


• Contains 10.3% protein in polished grain as compared to 7.0-8.0% in popular varieties
• Grain yield: 45.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 125 days
• Adaptation: Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
• Developed by ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha
• Year of release: 2016


2) Rice: DRR Dhan 45


• High in zinc content (22.6 ppm) in polished grains in comparison to 12.0-16.0 ppm in popular varieties
• Grain yield: 50.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 125-130 days
• Adaptation: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad
• Year of release: 2016


3) Wheat: WB 02


• Rich in zinc (42.0 ppm) and iron (40.0 ppm) in comparison to 32.0 ppm zinc and 28.0-32.0 ppm iron in popular varieties
• Grain yield: 51.6 q/ha
• Maturity: 142 days
• Suitable for irrigated timely sown conditions
• Adaptation: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan (excluding Kota and Udaipur division), Western UP (except Jhansi division), Jammu and Kathua district of J & K, Paonta Valley an Una district of HP and Tarai region of Uttarakhand
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal
• Year of release: 2017


4) Wheat: HPBW 01


• Contains high iron (40.0 ppm) and zinc (40.6 ppm) in comparison to 28.0-32.0 ppm iron and 32.0 ppm zinc in popular varieties
• Grain yield: 51.7 q/ha
• Maturity: 141 days
• Suitable for irrigated timely sown conditions
• Adaptation: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan (excluding Kota and Udaipur division), Western UP (except Jhansi division), Jammu and Kathua district of J & K, Paonta Valley and Una district of HP and Tarai region of Uttarakhand
• Developed by PunjabAgricultural University, Ludhiana under ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Wheat & Barley
• Year of release: 2017


5) Maize: Pusa Vivek QPM9 Improved


• Country’s first provitamin-A rich maize
• High provitamin-A (8.15 ppm), lysine (2.67%) and tryptophan (0.74%) as compared to 1.0-2.0 ppm provitamin-A, 1.5-2.0% lysine and 0.3-0.4% tryptophan content in popular hybrids
• Grain yield: 55.9 q/ha [Northern Hills Zone (NHZ)] and 59.2 q/ha [Peninsular Zone (PZ)]
• Maturity: 93 days (NHZ) and 83 days (PZ)
• Adaptation:Kharif seasonin J&K,HimachalPradesh,Uttarakhand (Hill region), North Eastern states, Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, Telangana and Tamil Nadu
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2017


6) Maize: Pusa HM4 Improved

• Contains 0.91% tryptophan and 3.62% lysine which is significantly higher than popular hybrids (0.3-0.4% tryptophan and 1.5-2.0% lysine)
• Grain yield: 64.2 q/ha
• Maturity: 87 days
• Adaptation: Kharif season in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand (Plain), Uttar Pradesh (Western region)]
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2017


7) Maize: Pusa HM8 Improved


• Rich in tryptophan (1.06%) and lysine (4.18%) as compared to 0.3-0.4% tryptophan and 1.5-2.0% lysine in popular hybrids
• Grain yield: 62.6 q/ha
• Maturity: 95 days
• Adaptation: Kharif season in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2017


8) Maize: Pusa HM9 Improved


• Contains 0.68% tryptophan and 2.97% lysine compared to 0.3-0.4% tryptophan and 1.5-2.0% lysine in popular hybrids
• Grain yield: 52.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 89 days
• Adaptation: Kharif season in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh (Eastern region) and West Bengal
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2017

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9) Pearl millet: HHB 299


• High iron (73.0 ppm) and zinc (41.0 ppm) as compared to 45.0-50.0 ppm iron and 30.0-35.0 ppm zinc in popular varieties/hybrids
• Grain yield: 32.7 q/ha
• Dry fodder yield: 73.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 81 days
• Adaptation: Kharif season in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu
• Developed by CCS-Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar in collaboration with ICRISAT, Patancheru under ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl millet
• Year of release: 2017


10) Pearl millet: AHB 1200


• Rich in iron (73.0 ppm) in comparison to 45.0-50.0 ppm in popular varieties/hybrids
• Grain yield: 32.0 q/ha
• Dry fodder yield: 70.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 78 days
• Adaptation: Kharif season in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu
• Developed by Vasantrao Naik MarathwadaKrishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani (MS) in collaboration with ICRISAT, Patancheru under ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl millet
• Year of release: 2017


11) Lentil: Pusa Ageti Masoor


• Contains 65.0 ppm iron as compared to 55.0 ppm iron in popular varieties
• Grain yield: 13.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 100 days
• Medium seed with orange cotyledon
• Suitable for rainfed condition
• Adaptation: Utter Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2017


12) Mustard: Pusa Mustard 30


• Containslowerucic acid (<2.0%)in oil as compared to >40% erucic acid in popular varieties
• Oil content: 37.7%
• Seed yield: 18.2 q/ha
• Maturity: 137 days
• Suitable for timely sown irrigated conditions
• Adaptation: Utter Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2013


13) Mustard: Pusa Double Zero Mustard 31


• Country’s first Canola Quality Indian mustard variety
• Low erucic acid (<2.0%) in oil and glucosinolates (<30.0 ppm) in seed meal as compared to >40.0% erucic acid and >120.0 ppm glucosinolates in popular varieties
• Oil content: 41.0%
• Seed yield: 23.0 q/ha
• Maturity: 142 days
• Suitable for timely sown irrigated conditions
• Adaptation: Rajasthan (North and Western parts), Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Western UP, Plains of J&K and HP
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2016


14) Cauliflower: Pusa Beta Kesari 1


• Country’s first biofortified cauliflower
• Contains high β-carotene (8.0-10.0 ppm) in comparison to negligible β-carotene content in popular varieties 
• Curd yield: 40.0-50.0 t/ha
• Adaptation: Nation Capital Region of Delhi
• Developed by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
• Year of release: 2015


15) Potato: Bhu Sona


• High β-carotene (14.0 mg/100 g) content as compared to 2.0-3.0 mg/100 g β- carotene in popular varieties
• Tuber yield: 19.8 t/ha
• Dry matter: 27.0-29.0%
• Starch: 20.0%
• Total sugar: 2.0-2.4%
• Adaptation: Odisha
• Developed by ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
• Year of release: 2017


16) Sweet Potato: Bhu Krishna


• High anthocyanin (90.0 mg/100g) content in comparison to popular varieties which have negligible anthocyanin content
• Tuber yield: 18.0 t/ha
• Dry matter: 24.0-25.5%
• Starch: 19.5%
• Total sugar: 1.9-2.2%
• Salinity stress tolerant
• Adaptation: Odisha
• Developed by ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
• Year of release: 2017


17) Pomegranate: Solapur Lal


• High iron (5.6-6.1 mg/100g), zinc (0.64-0.69 mg/100g) and vitamin C (19.4 -19.8 mg/100 g) in fresh arils in comparison to 2.7-3.2 mg/ 100g, 0.50- 0.54 mg/100g and 14.2-14.6 mg/100g, respectively in popular variety Ganesh
• Fruit yield: 23.0-27.0 t/ha
• Adaptation: Semi-arid regions of the country
• Developed by ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate, Pune 
• Year of release: 2017

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