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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Cereal Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393962
Research Project: Improvement of Biotic Stress Resistance in Durum and Hard Red Spring Wheat Using Genetics and Genomics

Location: Cereal Crops Research

Title: The location of iron and zinc in grain of conventional and biofortified lines of sorghum

Author
item GADDAMEEDI, ANIL - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India
item SHERAZ, SADIA - University Of Manchester
item ARE, ASHOKKUMAR - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India
item KEXUE, LI - University Of Manchester
item PELLNY, TILL - Rothamsted Research
item Gupta, Rajeev
item WAN, YONGFANG - Rothamsted Research
item MOORE, KATIE - University Of Manchester
item SHEWRY, PETER - Rothamsted Research

Submitted to: Journal of Cereal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/22/2022
Publication Date: 8/6/2022
Citation: Gaddameedi, A., Sheraz, S., Are, A., Kexue, L., Pellny, T., Gupta, R., Wan, Y., Moore, K., Shewry, P. 2022. The location of iron and zinc in grain of conventional and biofortified lines of sorghum. Journal of Cereal Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2022.103531.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2022.103531

Interpretive Summary: Sorghum is the fifth largest cereal in terms of global production only after maize, rice, wheat, and barley. Deficiencies of mineral micronutrients such as iron and zinc are a major challenge globally for improving global health, for example, it has been estimated 39.8% of children and 29.9% of women of reproductive age have anaemia, and about half of which results from iron deficiency. In most of the cereal crop improvement programs efforts have been made to generate genetically biofortified lines and in sorghum one of the such line (Parbhani Sakthi) has been released in India. This study focused on the location of iron and zinc in grains of conventional and biofortified lines of sorghum. The results of this study might be useful in long run for decision on post-harvest processing of grains for maximum availability of micronutrients.

Technical Abstract: Sorghum is an important source of dietary iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) in many parts of Africa and India, but there is a need to increase their concentrations to meet dietary requirements. A genetically biofortified sorghum line (Parbhani Sakthi) showed higher concentrations of Zn and Fe than a control line (M35). Analysis at the tissue level by histochemical staining and at the cellular level using NanoSIMS showed that both minerals are concentrated in the aleurone layer and in the scutellum of the embryo, with Zn also being concentrated in the embryonic axis. However, NanoSIMS also showed that “hot spots” of Fe and Zn are also present in the sub-aleurone and starchy endosperm cells and that many of these contained both minerals. This indicates that the Fe and Zn are present as phytates in these cells, as in the aleurone and scutellum cells.