The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal for mitigating hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Approximately 2.3 billion people are without food or unable to regularly eat a nutritious, balanced diet. About 720-811 million people are chronically undernourished. An additional 70- 161 million people are estimated to face hunger during the recent pandemic, and about one-third of women of childbearing age are anaemic, while 22% of under five-year-old children are stunted. There is still a long way to go to achieve the noble goal of Zero hunger.
Diversification of the global agricultural and food system, especially the food crops, is important to mitigate the hunger crises. Crops diversity is the foundation of sustainable agriculture, enabling it to evolve and adapt to meet the never-ending challenge of sustainably producing sufficient and nutritious food for an increasing population. Characterization of the various crops, especially underutilized and new crops, in terms of the crops phenotyping nutritional (trait-specific germplasm) and anti-nutritional profiles is required. There are many antinutrients (phytic acid, oxalic acid, tannins etc.) available in the plants hindering the absorption of the minerals in the body. There is a need to screen the crops for the presence of these anti-nutritional compounds in levels above the permissible limit. Crop-morphological characterization (phenotyping) could also provide new insights into the newer sources of nutrition. Crops rich in iron, zinc, calcium, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, oils etc., should be identified and promoted by incorporating these directly to the national food basket and through govt. policies.. Furthermore, high-yielding climate-resilient crops, adapted to changing environments; that are economically viable could provide affordable nutrition to the masses.
The aim of this Research Topic is to collate novel research on the phenotyping and nutritional characteristics of food crops.
This Research Topic welcome submissions on the following topics but not limited to:
1. Phenotyping and nutritional characterization of food crop plants.
2. Nutritional and anti-nutritional profiling of crops for trait-specific germplasm discovery and their health effects.
3. In-silico characterization of nutritional and anti-nutritional genes, transcripts, and modeling of bioactive proteins and compounds.
4. Nutrition and environmental sustainability of crops and their market trend analysis
5. Exploration and enhancement of crop germplasm.
6. Functional biochemistry of crop nutrients.
7. Analytical techniques and protocols for nutritional profiling
8. Health benefits: in vitro and in vivo studies.
9. Environmental impact assessment and market analysis of food crops.
10. Application of biotechnology, computational biology, and bioinformatics for the nutritional profiling of the crops
11. Methodologies to promote nutrient-rich crops
The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal for mitigating hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Approximately 2.3 billion people are without food or unable to regularly eat a nutritious, balanced diet. About 720-811 million people are chronically undernourished. An additional 70- 161 million people are estimated to face hunger during the recent pandemic, and about one-third of women of childbearing age are anaemic, while 22% of under five-year-old children are stunted. There is still a long way to go to achieve the noble goal of Zero hunger.
Diversification of the global agricultural and food system, especially the food crops, is important to mitigate the hunger crises. Crops diversity is the foundation of sustainable agriculture, enabling it to evolve and adapt to meet the never-ending challenge of sustainably producing sufficient and nutritious food for an increasing population. Characterization of the various crops, especially underutilized and new crops, in terms of the crops phenotyping nutritional (trait-specific germplasm) and anti-nutritional profiles is required. There are many antinutrients (phytic acid, oxalic acid, tannins etc.) available in the plants hindering the absorption of the minerals in the body. There is a need to screen the crops for the presence of these anti-nutritional compounds in levels above the permissible limit. Crop-morphological characterization (phenotyping) could also provide new insights into the newer sources of nutrition. Crops rich in iron, zinc, calcium, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, oils etc., should be identified and promoted by incorporating these directly to the national food basket and through govt. policies.. Furthermore, high-yielding climate-resilient crops, adapted to changing environments; that are economically viable could provide affordable nutrition to the masses.
The aim of this Research Topic is to collate novel research on the phenotyping and nutritional characteristics of food crops.
This Research Topic welcome submissions on the following topics but not limited to:
1. Phenotyping and nutritional characterization of food crop plants.
2. Nutritional and anti-nutritional profiling of crops for trait-specific germplasm discovery and their health effects.
3. In-silico characterization of nutritional and anti-nutritional genes, transcripts, and modeling of bioactive proteins and compounds.
4. Nutrition and environmental sustainability of crops and their market trend analysis
5. Exploration and enhancement of crop germplasm.
6. Functional biochemistry of crop nutrients.
7. Analytical techniques and protocols for nutritional profiling
8. Health benefits: in vitro and in vivo studies.
9. Environmental impact assessment and market analysis of food crops.
10. Application of biotechnology, computational biology, and bioinformatics for the nutritional profiling of the crops
11. Methodologies to promote nutrient-rich crops
