Chapters authored
Quality Protein Maize: An Alternative Food to Mitigate Protein Deficiency in Developing Countries
Maize (Zea mays L.) plays a significant role in human nutrition and animal feed. After the discovery of opaque-2 mutants in maize, that produces with enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan. Quality protein maize (QPM) holds superior nutritional value and is essentially exchangeable with normal maize. The increasing use of maize as feed, increasing interest of the consumers in nutritionally enriched products and rising demand for maize seed are the core driving forces behind emerging importance of maize crop in India. Protein malnutrition is a serious global issue demanding huge resources on healthcare. The problem can be addressed to a considerable extent by shifting to quality protein maize diet. The development of QPM hybrids through advanced breeding approach like molecular marker-assisted breeding was adopted. It could solve the issue related to protein deficiency in developing countries.
Part of the book: Maize
Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.): An Alternative Food to Reduce Micronutrient Deficiencies in Human
Hot peppers are good source of bioactive compounds particularly phytochemicals, capsaicin, oleoresins, and rich organic micronutrients with potential health benefits. It plays an important role in diets and possesses micronutrients. Micronutrient dietary deficiency remains a massive problem in the world which may cause several chronic health diseases. More than 2 billion individuals are facing micronutrient deficiencies, viz., zinc, iodine, and iron, followed by vitamins. Among various approaches to overcome human nutrition deficiencies, a diet with fruits and vegetables that are rich in micronutrients is considered as the best solution. Hot pepper consumption worldwide is well known for its high nutritional content which in turn reduces human micronutrient deficiencies. Thus sufficient amounts of micronutrients can be provided by incorporating the nutrient-rich pepper in diet that could beneficially help in combating nutrient deficiencies. Thus, in the present chapter, an overview of the micronutrient deficiency is described, and the nutrition status of hot pepper that utilized in eradicating human micronutrient dietary deficiencies is also discussed.
Part of the book: Capsicum