Research Projects

Among the specility corns, the sweet corn gaining importance due to changing food habits and preparation methods in the urban population.The demand for sweet corn is quite high in city hotels and also found shelf space in big malls in the city. Hence the sweet corn is a better target for the biofortification program.The NEH maize Yaribok Chujak having high beta carotene content (Senthil et al. 2021 unpublished) and Chujak makkai (violet colour) will be used for the addition of the sh2 trait to incorporate sweetness. Beta carotene and sugar estimation will be done at 75DAS. The NEH landraces having various anthocyanin color grains will be used for the addition of sh2 alleles for sweetness which will open up new market potential. The sweet corn inbred USC1-2-3-1 and SC 12039-1 at TNAU will be introgressed with beta carotene trait using the MABB. The crtRB1 and sh2 gene-specific marker will be used for the selection of homozygous lines for beta carotene trait and sweetness respectively.

The present work focused on the development of nutritionally enriched sweet corn through introgression of β-carotene, sweetness (sh2), and anthocyanin traits into elite and locally adapted genetic backgrounds. A set of six β-carotene donor lines (DBT15, DBT16, DBT17, DBT18, DBT23,DBT25) were utilized to develop the hybrid CSBH 23004, which recorded a 10% yield increase over the commercial check Misthi in PYT–Kharif 2023 and CYT–Summer 2024. Owing to its superior performance, CSBH 23004 was nominated for MLT–Kharif 2024. Parallel efforts targeted the NEHR landrace Yaripok chujak (CAUM66), where advanced backcross lines of CAUM66β+ × DBT16carrying sh2 and crtRB1 (CAUM66/DBT16-5-6-8-3-112-2,-11-2-26-13-110-7,-24-58-3-17-111-15,-23-59-6-34-116-9) were developed. These lines expressed 14–16 μg/g β-carotene and 18–19% TSS, combining nutritional enhancement with landrace adaptability. In addition, anthocyanin from NEHR chujak red was successfully transferred into tropical sweet corn line DBT17 using crtRB1 marker-assisted selection along with morphological identification of sh2, resulting in six advanced backcross lines (SCR 49, SCR 50, SCR 53, SCR 58, SCR 68, SCR 70). These lines showed 15–18 μg/g β-carotene, 14–16% TSS, and 7–8 mg/g FW cyanidin-3-glucoside. Collectively, these achievements represent significant progress in developing biofortified sweet corn germplasm with enhanced yield, sweetness, and nutritional value.