Research Projects

Wheat, a staple food for nearly one-third of the world, is particularly important in India, where it is consumed in various products. The development of grain iron and zinc content-rich wheat varieties is a cost-effective solution to reduce nutrition gaps in remote areas. However, breeding for improved GFe and GZn contents is challenging due to the complexity of factors such as genetic and metabolic networks regulating these contents. Environmental factors, such as soil quality, also affect the stability of these contents. Therefore, selecting genotypes with stable GFe and GZn contents is crucial for crop improvement programs. The transfer of Fe and Zn from soil to crop plants is crucial for improving their use efficiency. studies have evaluated genotypes for high GFeC and GZnC in different environmental conditions and identified QTLs or MTAs controlling GFe and GZn contents in wheat grains. However, few studies have been conducted for GWAs, development of high-throughput kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KAsP) markers, and validation of major QTL for high GFe and GZn contents.