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20 SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2015 corn catches on in America it might help to speed up its accept- ance in Africa. Its better for you than white corn and yellow corn he says. We are just getting started working with a small number of people to bring it to market in the United States. Im an optimist. Why shouldnt this be mainstream They eat orange corn in Thailand and northern Italy. We have docu- mented scientific evidence that its actually more flavorful. Mero says the same effect has been seen with Benefort broc- coli Tests have shown that people either cannot detect a different flavor or taste between Benefort and standard broccoli or prefer the flavor of Benefort. This is likely due to subtle changes in the levels of different sulphur compounds. According to Rocheford popu- larizing orange corn in America might create a ripple effect that speeds along its acceptance in Africa. My view was OK lets do Africa with orange corn and later well do America he explains. Now we might start growing this in the U.S. so we can help people in Africa who need it more than we do. Its a little backwards but it could lead to big things. Good for Growers As Mero notes whats good for consumers can also be good for growers and Islam agrees. Biofortification was once consid- ered impractical but thats turned out not to be the case at all. In the past the conventional wisdom from breeders at inter- national centers was if you try to increase these nutrients youll have a decline in yield Mero says. That was the assumption but it was soon discovered there wasnt a tradeoff that you could have both yield and more nutrition. Many of the nutrients were trying to increase like zinc are things that plants need anyway. When you increase the uptake of zinc from the soil by the plant it helps the plant to grow better and also benefits the consumer. Providing zinc through bioforti- fied wheat and rice could improve nutrition for millions of zinc-deficient people in South Asia Islam adds. Rocheford currently has an open pollinated variety of orange corn that yields 85 bushels per acre. Although it yields well he says the key to its success in America will be marketing it the right way. Were working with organic and local growers who can get a premium at local farmers markets if they have corn meal thats higher in antioxidants or provitamin A he says. We want to start small and build interest. At Kansas City farm- ers markets theyre very excited about it anything developed through traditional breeding as opposed to GM is attrac- tive. Theres a lot of psychology involved. Thats just how it goes. Monsanto has a few biofortified products in its pipeline. Examples include a high lycopene tomato and high lycopene cut-and-peel carrot. Lycopene is an antioxidant which some studies show might help reduce the risk of cancer. The majority of biofortified crops are created through tradi- tional breeding but some like provitamin A-enriched Golden Rice are created using GM technol- ogy. According to Islam sticking to traditional breeding helps speed acceptance of new crops in places such as Africa where GMOs have still not gained wide acceptance from a regulatory standpoint. Still Islam says genetic engi- neering will have its place in the future of biofortification. You see what you can do with conventional breeding and after that there are other technologies that can be used to get the kind of crop you want he says. SW Golden Rice is biofortified with beta-carotene which can help prevent blindness and death in children in the developing world. PHOTO IRRI. WHEREON THE WEB To learn more about the mission and work of HarvestPlus visit www.harvestplus.org. BIOFORTIFICATION TAKING OFF IN A SLEW Biofortification the idea of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value is being done in a slew of common crops to boost nutrient content. Besides corn cassava and broccoli here are some other foods getting a nutritional boost through biofortification. Iron Beans For more than 300 million people beans are an important part of the diet especially in regions of Africa and Central and South America. Iron deficiency during childhood and adolescence impairs physical growth and mental development. Iron Pearl Millet Pearl millet biofortified with iron will be targeted to those populations in India that rely on it as a staple food crop. There are spillover benefits to regions in Africa where pearl millet is also consumed on a smaller scale. Vitamin A Sweet Potato More than 95 percent of the worlds sweet potato crop is grown in developing countries. Children with vitamin A deficiency are at increased risk of severe morbidity from common childhood infections such as diarrheal diseases and measles. In cases of extreme deficiency children can go blind. Orange sweet potato is a rich source of beta-carotene. Eating orange sweet potato improves the vitamin A status of children. Zinc Wheat and Rice In South Asia where micronutrient deficiencies are widespread this major staple food crop is an ideal candidate for biofortification. Zinc is involved in more body functions than any other mineral. It is a component of more than 200 enzyme systems and required for normal growth and development. Source harvestplus.org.