Genetically "Strong" Chickpeas battle Malnutritions

          Malnutrition affects over 2 billion people worldwide and has been a growing epidemic. Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan have been finding ways to combat the growing micronutrient malnutrition by enriching certain food grains by breeding correctly and right practices. these actions are coupled together and are called biofortification. Specifically chickpeas have been analyzed and changed. After the common bean, the chickpeas are the most important crop and is a necessity in the diets of millions of people.

                                     
            Dr. Ta'ran, one of the leading researchers states that in order to increase the micronutrient content in these chickpeas, the appropriate mechanisms must be clearly understood. Mechanisms of mobilization, absorption, translocation and retranslocation in the plant seed must be analyzed. Single Nucleotide variations or SNP's was analyzed through testing. The chickpeas consisted of elite cultivars, landraces, and advanced breeding lines from the University. The study found that there is in fact variability present in chickpea germplasm for seed iron and zinc concentrations, Increasing the levels of zinc and iron genetically could be a solution to a huge problem in the US

         This article gets me excited with research. Genetically modified foods have been a huge debate over the years, but its benefits can not be shown lightly. These chickpeas can have an affect, not only in the immediate US populations, but can have an affect world-wide.

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141201113130.htm
Related Article: http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/plants/302.chick_peas.html