Effect of storage period on provitamin-A carotenoids retention in biofortified maize hybrids

Vitamin A-rich maize hybrids provide sustainable solutions to malnutrition. However, significant loss of carotenoids during storage reduces its efficacy. Grains of nine sub-tropically adaptedcrtRB1-based biofortified hybrids along with six normal hybrids were stored under conventional storage for five months. PVAC (beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin) amongcrtRB1-based hybrids degraded from initial level of 18.77 to 3.24 mu g g(-1), while NPVAC (lutein and zeaxanthin) reduced to 10.79 mu g g(-1)from 19.00 mu g g(-1)during storage. Among PVAC, beta-cryptoxanthin (21.8%) possessed more stability than beta-carotene (16.4%). For NPVAC, lutein (61.2%) showed the highest retention than zeaxanthin (50.4%). Majority of the PVAC loss occurred within first three months of storage. Retention for PVAC amongcrtRB1-based hybrids varied from 14% to 23% indicating the role of favourable genetic factors. APQH1, APQH7 and APH2 were the promising hybrids with higher retention (>20%) of PVAC. This is the first report on identification of provitamin A-richcrtRB1-based biofortified maize hybrids with higher retention during sub-tropical storage.

Automated summary

The research revealed that biofortified maize hybrids based on crtRB1 undergo significant PVAC loss during storage, but some promising hybrids with higher retention rates offer opportunities for further study and development.