Context: Recently, scientists from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune develop biofortified, high protein wheat variety MACS 4028, a semi-dwarf variety, has shown the superior and stable yielding ability

• Bio fortification is a process to increase the bioavailability and the concentration of nutrients in crops through both conventional plant breeding and genetic engineering.
• Durum is a kind of hard wheat grown in arid regions that is typically ground into semolina and used to make pasta.
• Durum wheat, or Triticum turgidum, is the second most cultivated species of wheat after bread wheat, which is also called common wheat or Triticum aestivum.

Benefits

• It shows high protein content of about 14.7%, better nutritional quality having zinc 40.3 ppm, and iron content of 40.3 ppm and 46.1 ppm respectively, good milling quality and overall acceptability.
• It is a semi-dwarf variety, which matures in 102 days and has shown the superior and stable yielding ability of 19.3 quintals per hectare.

Resistance

• It is resistant to stem rust, leaf rust, foliar aphids, root aphids, and brown wheat mite.
• The MACS 4028 variety is also included by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) programme for United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to alleviate malnutrition in a sustainable way and can boost the Vision 2022 “Kuposhan Mukt Bharat”, the National Nutrition Strategy.
• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has also tagged this variety under the Biofortified category during the year 2019.
• MACS 4028 has been notified by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops (CVRC) for timely sown, rainfed condition of Peninsular Zone, comprising Maharashtra and Karnataka.
• In the peninsular zone of India (Maharashtra and Karnataka states), wheat cultivation is majorly done under rainfed and limited irrigation conditions. Under such conditions, the crop experiences moisture stress.

About Wheat

• It is the second most important cereal crop in India after rice.
• It is the main food crop, in northand north-western part of the country.
• It is a rabi crop that requires a cool growing season and a bright sunshine at the time of ripening.
• It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly-distributed over the growing season.
• There are two important wheat-growing zones in the country:- the Ganga-Satluj plains in the north-west and black soil region of the Deccan.
• The Major wheat-producing states are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh etc.

About National Nutrition Mission (NNM) 

• It aims to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, and anaemia among young children, women and adolescent girls, besides reducing low birth weight. More than 100 million people are expected to benefit from NNM,
• NNM is backed by a National Nutrition Strategy prepared by the NITI Aayog with the goal of attaining “Kuposhan Mukt Bharat" or malnutrition-free India, by 2022.
• It aims to map various schemes that address malnutrition and set up a robust convergence mechanism, and an information and communications technology-based real-time monitoring system, besides incentivising states and Union territories to meet the targets.
• It will also incentivise Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) for using IT-based tools, social audits and setting up of nutrition resource centres involving the masses.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).
• Government of India, which ensures convergence with various programmes i.e., Anganwadi Services, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) of MWCD Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM), Swachh-Bharat Mission, Public Distribution System (PDS), Department Food & Public Distribution, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.