Assessment of Genetic Variability for Iron Content in Grain of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Germplasm Accessions and Identification of Transgressant Lines

Iron and zinc deficiencies are serious global health problems among the people dependent on staple crops like rice and maize. Enrichment of nutrients in these crops can be achieved by adopting biofortification methods. The objective of this experiment was to identify high iron containing lines in rice by developing new mapping populations. Three mapping populations were developed based on grain iron content and yield viz., IRRI38 X Jeerigesanna, BI33 X Jeerigesanna and Azucena X Moromutant after the two seasons screening of 960 germplasm accessions under aerobic and wetland condition. Iron and zinc concentrations were estimated from RILs and the values ranged from 4.45 to 76 mg/kg and 7.73 to 146 mg/kg, respectively. Thirty two high iron and zinc containing genotypes were identified for all India trial in Kharif 2011; these genotypes were evaluated for iron and zinc content. AM127 and Karidaddi were found to have high iron content while AM65 and AM143 were found to be have high zinc content.