Meeting human dietary vitamin requirements in the staple rice via strategies of biofortification and post-harvest fortification

Abstract Background Vitamins play a vital function in human health by ensuring the metabolic and physiological well-being of individuals. Failure to meet the daily dietary requirements of these compounds could lead to a multitude of disorders with threatening clinical and subclinical manifestations. Rice, a major staple food, has been targeted in several beneficial rice biofortification strategies and post-harvest fortification techniques. Scope and approach In this article, we reviewed the strategies and application of diverse biofortification and post-harvest methods of nutritional fortification. We discussed the benefits and disadvantages inherent in each approach considering fortification parameters, vitamin retention and bioavailability, physicochemical properties as well as the textural properties of rice. We contest that the information provided here will aid in addressing future nutritional security and thereby alleviate the growing prevalence of vitamin deficiencies. Key findings and conclusion Various techniques were employed to increase selected vitamins in rice with a number of successful attempts. The intervention of genetics and breeding has revealed relevant QTLs and identified key enzymes to increase the selected vitamin concentration in rice. It also implicated a need to screen a greater number of rice germplasms with the goal to identify superior cultivars for finding the diversity of rare vitamins. Exploration on transgenic approach to bring key genes from other crops made it possible to enrich vitamin A in rice. Diverse post-harvest fortification offered a complementary solution to increase different vitamins.