Maize as emerging source of oil in India: an overview

India is the largest importer as well as the third largest consumer of edible oils. Over many decades maize has been meeting the requirements of human population for food, fodder, fuel and other innumerable number of industrial products such as oil, protein, starch, ethanol, etc. Due to ever-growing and increasing human population and its demands, the necessities and demands of oil is increasing at an alarming rate. In India, maize oil is used to blend with other oils, because of vast nutritional quality embedded in it such as vitamin E (tocopherol), sitosterol and linoleic acid which are indispensable essential fatty acids. Hence, there is a wider scope to emphasize research on maize hybrids that are not only rich in oil content but also having an array of beneficial nutrients. Maize has the highest productivity as compared to other crops. Therefore, the target of attaining self-sufficiency in oil can be fulfilled through this crop. To achieve this goal, the breeders have to develop best inbreds by various methods such as divergent recurrent selection or other such, which are being successfully conducted in the University of Illinois