abstract
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Wheat is the staple crop of Pakistan which is important pillar of food security and most of the calories of human diet are covered by this food item. Pakistan has surplus wheat production during 2017 and its production during 2018 was sufficient to meet the requirement of the country. Now the focus is concentrated to develop the wheat varieties with good nutritional quality especially micro-nutrients such as iron and zinc. On the globe, more than two billion humans are iron and zinc deficient which may cause retarded growth, impaired brain development, compromised immune function, tiredness, petulance, hair problem, muscular wasting, infertility, morbid condition and sometimes mortality. Iron and zinc deficiency has an impact on crop production including human health. Food fortification is good practice to cope with minerals deficiency but bio-fortification is the preferred and most sustainable approach to address such nutritional issues. In this regard, fifty wheat lines from National Wheat Breeding Programme were collected with the assistance of CIMMYT, Pakistan. The collected material was analysed qualitatively. Analytical results showed that iron ranged from 16.33-79.61ppm while the zinc ranged from 28.58-59.80ppm. Correlation between protein and gluten was explored to be direct and positive with iron and Zinc while negative with starch. Some of the lines showed iron and zinc content up to 79.61 and 59.80 ppm, respectively. Higher iron and zinc concentration of the screened wheat material and their wider variations may be effectively used to develop nutritious wheat varieties with high micronutrient status / profile along with good yield.