摘要：Malnutrition affects growth and development in humans and causes socio-economic losses. Normal maize is deficient in essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan; and vitamin-A. Crop biofortification is a sustainable and economical approach to alleviate micronutrient malnutrition. We combined favorable alleles of
crtRB1 and
lcyE genes into
opaque2 (
o2)-based four inbreds viz
. QLM11, QLM12, QLM13, and QLM14 using marker-assisted backcross breeding. These are parents of quality protein maize versions of two elite hybrids viz
. Buland and PMH1, grown in India. Gene-based SSRs for
o2 and InDel markers for
crtRB1 and
lcyE were successfully employed for foreground selection in BC
1F
1, BC
2F
1, and BC
2F
2 generations. The recurrent parent genome recovery ranged from 88.9 to 96.0% among introgressed progenies. Kernels of pyramided lines possessed a high concentration of proA (7.14–9.63 ppm), compared to 1.05 to 1.41 ppm in the recurrent parents, while lysine and tryptophan ranged from 0.28–0.44% and 0.07–0.09%, respectively. The reconstituted hybrids (RBuland and RPMH1) showed significant enhancement of endosperm proA (6.97–9.82 ppm), tryptophan (0.07–0.09%), and lysine (0.29–0.43%), while grain yield was at par with their original versions. The dissemination of reconstituted hybrids holds significant promise to alleviate vitamin-A deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition in developing countries.
