Biofortification of wheat for sustainable food supply

Date

Tuesday 5 April 2016

Time

12:30 to 13:30

Speaker

Irum Aziz, Sydney University (supervisor Richard Trethowan)

Abstract

Wheat cultivars that either load more Fe and Zn into the grain or improve the bioavailability of these nutrients in the human digestive system could contribute to the alleviation of malnutrition in many countries where wheat is a primary source of calories. Semi-dwarf wheat genotypes with enhanced Zn and Fe concentration and low levels of phytate and high fructan have been developed and their impact on animal nutrition, processing quality and P use-efficiency is being determined. Low grain phytate and high fructan are considered to be enhancers of micronutrient bioavailability. Preliminary results show that phytate and fructan are independent of yield, while micronutrient concentration is associated with the aleurone and therefore negatively correlated with yield. Evidence suggests that processing quality is not influenced by more extreme levels of phytate and fructan and low phytate wheat tends to be more P use-efficient. The nutritional value of different wheat genotypes is greatly influenced by the environment and the nutritional status of the soil. However, a significant genotype x environment interaction was observed indicating that cultivars with improved nutritional value adapted to specific environmental conditions can be developed.

Bio

Irum Aziz is PhD student at Sydney University Australia under supervision of Richard Trethowan. She has collaborative research project with CSIRO further supervised by Ahmed Regina. She did her M.Sc (Hons) from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Irum is interested in breeding MORE NUTRITIOUS WHEAT as wheat covers more of the earth’s surface than any other cereal crop and is a staple food in many countries. In terms of nutrition, most breeders aim to increase the concentration of micronutrients in the wheat grain, However, nutrient concentration tends to reduce as yield (and associated starch content) increases. For this reason I decided to focus on nutrient bioavailability as an avenue to improve the nutritional value of wheat that can help the humanity by providing good food and also improve the sustainability of farming system.