A roadmap towards investing in agriculture, food security and nutrition. Presented at the Agriculture Nutrition Linkages Seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh on the 18th of April, 2012.

1. CIMMYT and CRP4:
Development of Nutritionally Enriched
Maize and Wheat Varieties

2. Introduction
● Nutrition derived from plant based sources is cheaper, and
accessible among diverse consumers- rural poor of
developing countries
● Rice, wheat and maize together provides the major portion
of food calories of more than 4.5 billion people in
developing countries
MAIZE is the staple for about 900 million of poor consumers
Wheat for 2.5 billion poor consumers
● HarvestPlus (H+) and SI of CIMMYT Mega programs are
dealing with human nutrition and are aligned with CRP4
(Agriculture Nutrition and Health).

3. Successful Innovation - QPM
Lysine & Tryptophan (% of total protein)
Normal o2 QPM
Lysine 2.6 4.2 4.1
Tryptophan 0.4 0.9 0.8
Source: cited by Vivek et al 2009

4. Human nutrition
QPM is nutritionally superior than conventional
maize in maize-based human diets
Several human nutrition studies conducted by
Akuamoa-Boateng (2002) found:
● that children fed with high lysine/tryptophan maize were
healthier than those fed with normal maize porridge.
● reduced stunting and better growth in children consuming
high lysine/tryptophan maize.

5. Animal nutrition
Pig fed with the QPM based diet gained 256 g per day, while the
animal fed with common maize gained an average of only 21 g
per day (J. Maner)

6. QPM and Africa
● Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, etc.
● Seed companies are engaged in QPM seed production and
supply
● Ministry of Agriculture (NARS partners), NGOs and
Health Ministry – working together
Connected with the WFP – in some countries
● New germplasm rich in Zn, Fe, ProvitaminA are being
developed, tested in African and some countries in South
Asia like India.

7. SI7- Nutritional Enrichment of Maize
Value proposition
• Using native maize genetic diversity and novel tools, develop
and disseminate maize varieties that are biofortified for pro-
vitamin A (VA), zinc, or essential amino acids (quality protein
maize; QPM), thereby reducing 10-20% of the life-years that are
lost annually to Vitamin A deficiency in five sub-Saharan African
countries alone, and benefiting malnourished children who grow
up on maize-based diets.
Approaches
• Germplasm with >15µg/g provitamin A, 50-100% higher lysine
and tryptophan, and kernel-zinc >40 ppm; development of maize
germplasm
• Functional markers for screening and developing nutritionally
enriched cultivars
Source: Palacio, 2012

8. Donors for high oil content
Type Kernel Kernel Heterotic % oil
germplasm/maturity color type group
CML 446 Tropical/intermediate White Dent B 6.01
CML 502 6.06
CML 435 Tropical/intermediate Yellow A 6.06
CML 358 Tropical/intermediate Yellow Semi-dent 6.14
CML 366 Tropical/intermediate Yellow Semi-dent 6.17
CML 399 Tropical/late White Flint A 6.24
CML 490 Tropical/intermediate White Flint A 6.46
CML 511 6.49
CML 470 Early Yellow Flint 7.32
Source: Palacio, 2012

9. Donors - high tryptophan and lysine
Germplasm type / Grian Grain Heterotic
maturity color type group % trp
CML491 Tropical/Late White Flint A 0.09
CML503 Tropical/Late White Flint B
CLQRCWQ83 Tropical/Late White Dent A
CLQRCWQ10 Tropical/Late White Flint B
CML161 Tropical/Late Yellow Flint B 0.082
CML165 Tropical/Late Yellow Dent A 0.083
CML176 Subtropical White Dent 0.1
CML144 Lowland/Late White Flint 0.08
Source: Palacio, 2012

10. Donors QPM and Zn
Germplasm Kernel Kernel Heteroti
type color type c group QPM % trp Zn (ppm)
CLQRCWQ
26 Tropical White Yes 0.084 48.6
CLQRCWQ
38 Tropical White Yes 0.085 46
CML491 Tropical White Flint A Yes 0.109 44
CLQRCWQ
97 Tropical White Yes 0.086 40.9
CLQ6315 Tropical White Yes 0.11 40.9
Source: Palacio, 2012

11. Donors - ProvitaminA
Germplasm pVAC CrtB1
Pedigree type/maturity ug/gDW favorable allele
Sub-trop/Early
KUI carotenoid syn-FS11-1-1-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B 6.81
(KUI carotenoid syn-FS11-1-1-B-B-B/(KU1409/
Sub-trop/Early 16.5 +
DE3/KU1409)S2-18-2-B)-B-1(MAS:L4H1)-1-B-B
(KUI carotenoid syn-FS11-1-1-B-B-B/ Sub-trop/Early
35.72 +
(KU1409/DE3/KU1409)S2-18-2-B)-B-3(MAS:L4H1)-1-B-B-B
KUI carotenoid syn-FS17-3-2-B-B-B-B-B-B 6.72
(KUI carotenoid syn-FS17-3-2-B-B-B/ Sub-trop/Early
29.02 +
(KU1409/DE3/KU1409)S2-18-2-B)-B-1(MAS:L4H1)-5-B-B-B
(KUI carotenoid syn-FS17-3-2-B-B-B/ Sub-trop/Early
32.56 +
(KU1409/DE3/KU1409)S2-18-2-B)-B-4(MAS:L4H1)-2-B-B-B
CML297 Sub-trop/V Late 6.3
(CML297/(KU1409/DE3/KU1409)S2-18-2-B)-
Subtropical/late 15.55 +
B-2(MAS:L4H1)-4-B-B-B
Sub-trop/Early
Florida A plus Syn-FS2-2-1-B-B-B-B-B-B 8.47
(Florida A plus Syn-FS2-2-1-B-B/
Sub-trop/Early 10.78 +
(KU1409/DE3/KU1409)S2-18-2-B)-B-3(MAS:L4H1)-2-B-B-B
Source: Palacio, 2012

12. Summary
● Development and release of competitive QPM cultivars
have been achieved, however the adoption is still poor (less
than 1% - around the world).
Maintenance breeding is challenging.
● Promising germplasm rich in Zn, Fe, ProvitaminA are
available – commercial release is yet to be done.
● Plan to introduce new germplasm with enhanced nutrition
through international nurseries in Bangladesh.
● Concerted effort is needed to develop and disseminate
nutritionally enriched varieties in Bangladesh and in other
countries.

13. Think for future mouth
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