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Rice is a highly consumed staple cereal cultivated predominantly in Asian countries, which share 90% of global rice production. Rice is a primary calorie provider for more than 3.5 billion people across the world. Preference and consumption of polished rice have increased manifold, which resulted in the loss of inherent nutrition. The prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies (Zn and Fe) are major human health challenges in the 21st century. Biofortification of staples is a sustainable approach to alleviating malnutrition. Globally, significant progress has been made in rice for enhancing grain Zn, Fe, and protein. To date, 37 biofortified Fe, Zn, Protein and Provitamin A rich rice varieties are available for commercial cultivation (16 from India and 21 from the rest of theworld; Fe > 10 mg/kg, Zn > 24mg/kg, protein > 10% in polished rice as India target while Zn > 28 mg/kg in polished rice as international target). However, understanding the micronutrient genetics, mechanisms of uptake, translocation, and bioavailability are the prime areas that need to be strengthened. The successful development of these lines through integratedgenomic technologies can accelerate deployment and scaling in future breeding programs to address the key challenges of malnutrition and hidden hunger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ninety safflower genotypes representing diverse geographic regions were studied for genetic divergence using Mahalanobis D2 static. The genotypes were grouped into 12 clusters. Seed yield contributed maximum to the total divergence. The maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster VIII and cluster XI whereas minimum distance between the clusters IV and XII. The accession 41 is the distinct one which can be highly utilized in further breeding programme. Selection of the genotypes from these clusters for hybridization programme may result in good recombinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic analysis for grain and fodder yield in sorghum genotypes using six generation means indicated the major role of additive genetic effects (d) for days to maturity and grain yield in both the crosses viz., EP 82 x CRS 1 and CSV 14R x SPV 1375. The cross EP 82 x CRS 1 indicated additive variance for plant height and grain yield while the cross CSV 14 R x SPV 1375 for days to maturity, plant height, panicle length, test weight and grain yield. Among the epistatic components of genetic variance, the fixable additive x additive component (i) was significant for almost all the traits except, days to 50% flowering in the cross EP 82 x CRS 1 and fodder yield in the cross CSV 14 R x SPV 1375. The characters exhibiting significant and positive additive genetic effects invariably were accompanied by additive x additive (i) interaction effects for plant height in the cross EP 82 x CRS1. However, the presence of positive and significant additive x additive interactions along with additive genetic effects for test weight in the cross EP 82 x CRS1 indicate the predominance of interaction component rather than their direct influence. Additive as well as additive x additive interaction effects with duplicate epistasis were observed in the cross EP 82 x CRS1 for plant height. Grain yield exhibited significant dominance variance in the cross CSV 14R x SPV 1375. Fodder yield exhibited significant dominance and dominance x dominance interactions in the cross CSV 14R x SPV 1375 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]