Malnutrition has emerged as a serious issue in developing countries. More than 2 billion people worldwide are facing serious health problems due to micronutrient deficiencies especially those arising from Zinc (Zn) and Iron (Fe). There is dire need to enhance the micronutrients availability in human diet. Micronutrient related malnutrition can be reduced by enhancing micronutrient availability in wheat by developing zinc and iron enriched wheat varieties and through soil or foliar application of these elements. Targeted breeding program has been initiated and 90 germplasm entries with higher micronutrient amount in grain have been selected. Some selected wheat lines showed good concentration of Ca (0.117%), Mg (0.57 %), Fe (462 mg/Kg), Zn (66.91 mg/ Kg) and Cu (29.34 mg/kg). These genotypes are being used in breeding for the development of micronutrient dense cultivars. Currently 53 F1 and 50 F2 crosses are in hand.

There is increasing evidence showing that foliar or combined soil plus foliar application of Zinc and iron under field condition are highly effective way to maximize uptake and accumulation of Zinc concentration in whole wheat grain. Six treatments with different combinations (soil and foliar application) of Iron and Zinc along with control were tested in Randomized Complete Block design with three replications during year 2017-18. The results showed maximum grain yield of 4161 kg ha1 was recorded when soil application of 12 kg Fe was applied, followed by soil application of 10 kg Zn (3823 kg ha-1). Minimum grain yield of 3420 kg ha-1 was recorded when no application of Iron and Zinc. Maximum iron contents (305.67 ppm) were observed in T3 (Foliar application of 1.0 % Fe SO4) whereas maximum zinc contents (64.37 ppm) were found in T2 (Foliar application of 0.5 % ZnSO4). The experiment is being repeated during current year 2018-19.