More than half of the world’s population, especially women and children in the developing countries suffer from micronutrient malnutrition especially deficiency in iron and zinc. Micronutrient malnutrition problems increased the interest of researchers to increase the mineral contents (Fe and Zn) in cereals to ensure adequate attainment of dietary minerals. A lot of variability does exist for micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Vitamin A, etc.) content and bioavailability in many crops including rice. The current study was conducted to assess the variability for iron and zinc content in dehusked rice grains to identify mineral-rich families. This study was conducted with the major objectives of analysis of genetic variability for quality traits for grain iron and zinc content. Based on mean, genotypic coefficient of variability (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variability (PCV), heritability and genetic advance, it was understood that the progenies of ADT 37 × IR68144-3B-2-2-3 would be more useful for improving grain iron content with the desirable quality traits viz., kernel length, kernel breadth after cooking,. Similarly TRY (R) 2 × Mapillaisamba segregants could be used for improving the grain zinc content and breadth wise expansion ratio.

 

Key words: Genotypic coefficient of variability (GCV), phenotypic coefficient of variability (PCV), genetic advance (GA), iron and zinc content.