A review: improve iron and zinc nutrients in rice through biofortification techniques / Raihana Nadhirah Mohd Zahid and Pathimah @ Fatimah Abdol Latif

Rice (Oryza saliva) is the staple crop for half of the world's population. Most of peoples especially in East and Southeast Asia are depend on rice as their dietary intake. However, rice is Jack of essential micronutrient especially Iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn). Both Fe and Zn have important functions in human health. People will affect by some health problem if do not required sufficient micronutrient in their diet such as slower growth, lower IQ. malnutrition and death. The most affected people are children, women and pregnancy women in poor population. There are lot of strategies to improve Fe and Zn in rice such as through biofortification techniques; by using agronomic practices, conventional breeding, and transgenic strategies. Agronomic practices have two methods to improve Fe and Zn which is through fertilizer application in the soil and through foliar application directly to the leaves of the rice. Conventional breeding is the development or improvement of cultivars using conservative tools for manipulating plant genome within the natural genetic boundaries of the species. Meanwhile, transgenic strategies is rice contain foreign gene to get the better characteristics of rice. The objectives of this study are to enhance nutrient contents especially Fe and Zn in rice to alleviate health problem among people and to improve the quality of rice in future. Thus, biofortification techniques is the best strategy to supply an adequate Fe and Zn content in rice to increase the quality of rice in future as well as can improve nutrients in human dietary.